Dragonball Shinobi
by Senju Naruto
Summary: Everybody knows that the Rikudou Sennin created the Bijuu before he passed away...but what if he also created something else...Nine "magic" balls that have the power to grant anyone who uses them any wish they desire. This is the story of Naruto Uzumaki as he searches for the dragonballs.
1. Chapter 1

Dragonball Shinobi

**Sup dudes and dudettes, for those who do not know me my name is Senju Naruto and this is my third story. I've been mauling over this idea in my mind for quite a while now, but I had promised myself to first get my other stories to at least 100k+ words. But alas I could not hold it in any longer. My mind just wants me to release it now…so here it is. **

**The idea for the story literally hit me when I was in the shower…I was like what if we retold Goku's legend, but with a Naruto twist to it, so that is what this is…**

Chapter One: Birth Of A Legend

The date was October ten. The time of day was night. In another universe this day would be the day that a young boy would be born into the world only to be cursed…well something similar is happening in this universe as well.

The people of the village were peacefully minding their own business, doing whatever mundane tasks they had to accomplish before hitting the hay. Some were out drinking with friends while others were busy having dinner with their families. Out of nowhere, though a gigantic plume of smoke appeared in the centre of the village. The smoke died down to reveal something demonic; it was a creature parents told their children of when they were trying to scare them into doing good things. It was a creature that many had come to only regard as legend, where they could not believe that a gigantic fox with nine tails swishing around could ever exist.

But lo and behold, right there in front of the frightened villagers was the great beast that was known throughout legend by many names. The destroyer, the apocalypse, the harbinger of death, these were all but a few of the names this creature was called. But its most famous name was none other than the Kyuubi no Yoko.

The great kitsune emitted a raw that was so loud that it was heard throughout the village. The villagers down below were terrified beyond belief. They started running away from the beast, hoping to escape its carnage but it was not to be. The beast started attacking things aimlessly, smashing buildings into rubble, and stomping on people who were trying to get away.

It was a sight of pure anarchy and carnage that would make many grown men want to run back into their mother's bosom.

In an alternate universe the village that would be getting attacked by the great Kyuubi no Yoko would be Konoha, but in this universe Konoha never became a reality, instead the great clan wars period has continued up 'til today.

The village that this great beast was attacking was none other than Uzushiogakure no Sato, home of the greatest Fuuinjutsu practitioners in the shinobi world, the Uzumaki clan.

Originally a creature as big as the Kyuubi would have been sealed away within seconds by the Uzumaki, but this was a biju, and not just any biju, but the supposed king of all biju. It had more chakra than all of the Uzumaki's put together, and that was saying something considering how Uzumaki shinobi were known as chakra monsters. It would not be so simple as it would have been to seal another creature the Kyuubi's size away.

They could not just seal it into the ground or into an object…because of their properties biju can only be sealed within human beings…but alas that is forbidden. It was agreed upon by the entire shinobi world that the sealing of biju within humans was considered wrong and evil. Wrong because it would make whatever clan that possessed a biju have an unfair advantage over the other clans of the shinobi world, and evil because it would be the creation of a jinchuriki, a human sacrifice.

This was why the Uzumaki clan could not just seal the Kyuubi away; instead they had to fend it off through other means.

**Uzushiogakure Central Tower**

Currently standing at the roof of the Uzushio central tower was a man that many in shinobi world feared. He was regarded as one of the strongest shinobi on the planet, with only a few being stronger than him. He was known by many as the Nidaime Rikudō Sennin because of the fact that he had the same kekkei genkai as the Rikudō Sennin himself, his name was Uzumaki Nagato.

Nagato was tall when it came to his height, he had the normal Uzumaki hair colour, which was red, and he had pale skin. Nagato wore a plain black t-shirt underneath a high collared purple cloak that reached below his knees along with a pair of black shinobi pants that he tied with white bandages around his ankles and he also wore purple shinobi sandals. He carried no weapons on him since they would be redundant in his case.

Nagato was currently staring at the great monstrosity known as the Kyuubi no Yoko with an unreadable expression on his face. The Kyuubi was wreaking havoc throughout his beloved village, but there was nothing he could do about it, for now at least. The reason he was not able to do anything was standing in front of him.

"Uzumaki Nagato." The man said in an emotionless voice, "It's an honour to finally meet you."

"Who are you?" asked Nagato calmly.

"You can call me whatever you want, but right now I am the one who controls the Kyuubi." The man said.

This man was the one who brought destruction upon his people. He was the one that brought the Kyuubi here to Uzu no Kuni. This man had to die.

"The Kyuubi is being controlled by you? but that would mean that you either have Mokuton or the Sharingan, but since I don't see any wood sprouting about I would take a guess at you having a Sharingan…Uchiha filth." Nagato said in a grim voice.

"Hahahahahaha…oh, you have the audacity to call the Uchiha filth…well I guess the Uchiha feel the same towards the Uzumaki." The man said in a sarcastic tone.

"So you are an Uchiha…" Nagato said.

"Who knows, maybe I am, and maybe I am not." The man said as he took out a chain that was long and that had cuffs on either side of it.

The man wore a simple long, grey, hooded cloak, a pair of black shinobi sandals, pants and long sleeved t-shirt, along with an orange mask that only had one eye hole in it and a swirl pattern all over the 'face' that converged along the one eye hole that was to the right side of face. The man strapped the cuffs around his wrists and cracked his neck as if he were removing a stiff joint.

Nagato stood still as he watched the man in front of him destroy his village with the Kyuubi as his weapon. Nagato could not believe what he was seeing. His home was being torn down piece by painful piece. Nagato then hardened his eyes due to him finding his resolve.

"Now then, let's get this over with already." The masked man said before rushing at Nagato.

Nagato remained rooted on the same spot, not moving an inch, but once the man was in touching distance he moved his arms, pointing them towards the masked Uchiha and utilised his strongest jutsu.

"**Shinra Tensei!"**

The gravitational attack created a huge crater on the roof that they stood on, or to be more precise, the part that the masked man was on. But much to Nagato's surprise the attack did not even slow the man down, and before Nagato knew it the man was in front of him with his hand outstretched, looking to grab Nagato's face.

Some quick reacting allowed Nagato to produce a black rod from his sleeve and proceed to stab the masked man, or at least that's what should have happened. The black rod went through the man as if he was not there, and what astounded Nagato more was the fact that instead of the man crashing into him thanks to his momentum, he instead phased through him.

This must have been what happened to his Shinra Tensei. It seems that physical attacks were useless against him.

The man's chains that were behind him the entire time seemed to latch onto Nagato, but before they could tighten around him, Nagato performed a quick Kawarimi with a piece of rubble that was once part of the roof.

As soon as Nagato was through with that move he saw something out of the corner of his eye that made him smile.

The Kyuubi which had been busy creating havoc and destruction throughout his village was suddenly halted by a gigantic orange toad that was close to its (the Kyuubi's) size being dropped onto it as if it fell from the sky. The toad managed to fall down on the Kyuubi hard enough to cause it to stop its entropic path.

Nagato and the masked man both stopped their fight as they watched on as the Kyuubi was squashed by the toad that seemed to be trying to pin it down while a man stood on top of it.

Nagato knew who the man was…it was Namikaze Minato; the one man that Nagato would say without a hint of hesitation in him that he was inferior to. Everyone loved and respected Namikaze Minato…despite him being a clan-less shinobi, the man rose to the top of the shinobi hierarchy and became the third man in the last one hundred years to be called 'Kami no Shinobi'. He was also known as Kiroi Senko, but everyone knew him as 'Kami no Shinobi', a title given to the strongest shinobi in the world.

Nagato despite having been blessed with the power of the Rinnegan could never measure up to Minato. Minato could decimate an entire army on his own. Nagato could do it as well, but Minato would be quick about it…Nagato would take up too much time and he would cause too much destruction. The Rinnegan did not allow for him to be as subtle in battle as Namikaze was.

The man was stronger than even the previous Kami no Shinobi, Sarutobi Hiruzen. Whether or not he was stronger than Senju Hashirama was still a debatable issue.

Nagato now had hope in himself. With Minato busy handling the Kyuubi, he could focus on his current opponent.

The masked man did not like what he was seeing. He knew that he would not be able to defeat Uzumaki Nagato in a one on one fight, but with his attention divided between fighting him and worrying about the Kyuubi destroying his village, the leader of the Uzumaki clan could be stalled long enough for the Kyuubi to do as it was told to by him, and that was to destroy the Uzumaki clan.

But now that the giant toad and its world famous summoner had appeared on the battlefield, now things were different. Nagato's attention would not be split, and that spelled bad news for him. He could kill Nagato, but it would ruin his future plans, and he needed Nagato in the future in order for his plans to succeed. Killing him was out of the question, but now it seemed that so was holding him back.

As if Nagato could sense the shift in their battle, Nagato turned his attention back to the silently fuming masked man and said, "Shall we continue."

"No." the man said as he seemed to disappear in a swirling vortex that seemed to converge around his right eye, "the Uzumaki will survive for now, but they will one day meet their end…that I can guarantee."

Once the man was gone Nagato turned his attention back to the Kyuubi and Minato, and just as he was about to fly over and help Minato take care of the Kyuubi, said man and beast suddenly disappeared.

It took Nagato a second to figure out what it was that caused this sudden disappearance…it was Minato's Hiraishin no Jutsu.

The question is where were they now?

As if the gods themselves were answering his question a loud explosion occurred towards the eastern end of the island, just outside of the village. Nagato knew where that was; it was Minato and Kushina's house. It was one of three of their houses that were on the island. Nagato only knew of two of those houses whereabouts, the third was a secret that only Minato and Kushina knew of. Nagato knew of its existence because of the fact that Kushina had told him about it because of their friendship.

Nagato immediately took off at a great speed, flying over to the sight of the huge explosion; all the while he wore a grim expression on his face.

'_Kushina, Minato, please be alright' _

**Minato and Kushina's House **

When Nagato arrived at the site of what used to be his friend's house he was greeted by the sight of a surprisingly smaller Kyuubi that had impaled both Minato and Kushina. What startled Nagato was the fact that the red haired woman and the blonde haired man where smiling, despite the pain they were in. Nagato then saw that they were looking down at something, and upon closer inspection Nagato saw what that was.

It seemed the Kyuubi had tried to impale their baby, but Minato and Kushina managed to protect their child by taking the hit for him.

Nagato saw that they were both talking to their son, but nothing much could be heard from where Nagato was standing at. Nagato decided to walk up to them, but before he could do so he bumped into a barrier.

Upon noticing the barrier Nagato noticed that Kushina was utilising her chakra chains to keep the Kyuubi at bay. And then he suddenly noticed that their child was on a pedestal of sorts, and that was when it clicked in Nagato's mind.

"Kushina, Minato, NO!"

The warning came a bit too late as Namikaze Minato performed the last seal required in his jutsu in order for it to take effect. There was a blinding flash that enveloped the forested area. Nagato's Rinnegan made its effect worse since the Rinnegan saw pure chakra, and the flash was just that, pure chakra. Nagato heard the Kyuubi raw one last time before it went quiet.

It had been done. Nagato did not need his eyes in order to know what had just happened. Minato had sealed the Kyuubi into his son. He had broken the universal law towards creating Jinchuriki, and that was to never ever create one.

Once the light had died down, the barrier did as well. Nagato was able to move towards Minato and Kushina's fallen forms. He was quickly beside Kushina who was barely alive Kushina, next to an already dead Minato. He held her head against his body while he looked at her with tears forming at the corners of his eyes.

"Kushina…" Nagato said softly, already knowing that there was not a thing he could do for her. She was going to die.

"N-Nagato…please take care of our son; take care of our N-Naruto-kun." Kushina said with great difficulty.

"I-I can't…Kushina. You and Minato created a jinchuriki, something like that is beyond illegal."

"I-I Know, we were hoping…I was ho-hoping that you could at least over look this. Give Naruto to Jiraiya-sama…please Nagato." Kushina all but pleaded to one of her longest friend's.

Seeing the pleading look in the dying woman's eyes, Nagato did not know what to do. On one hand he was dutifully obligated as the leader of the Uzumaki clan to uphold the law, but on the other he could not. This woman was not just his friend but she was someone that he loved beyond belief.

In the end a choice had to be made.

"Alright, I will…I will contact Jiraiya-sensei and give Naruto to him."

Kushina smiled a warm smile at that, but it seemed to be her last act in the plane of the living before she finally succumbed to her injuries. Kushina Uzumaki was no more.

Nagato just held onto Kushina despite her being dead. He clutched onto her unmoving body as tears rolled down his face. He did not move from his position for a few minutes as he continued to hold onto the woman that he had secretly loved for as long as he could remember.

While Nagato was clutching onto Kushina's dead form, a certain individual watched on through his single eye hole as Nagato cried over Kushina's death. He watched the entire scene with keen interest.

'_Interesting…I could use this to my advantage…but not today._' The man thought to himself before he disappeared in a swirling vortex.

Nagato eventually stopped crying over Kushina's prone form and he laid her down gently before he went over to their (Minato and Kushina's) baby. Nagato looked at baby Naruto with an unreadable expression. He was dutifully obligated to turn him in and have the Kyuubi extracted from him, but he also made a promise to a woman he loved, and he was going to keep that promise, whether he wanted to or not.

**Uzu no Kuni Harbour**

Jiraiya had been standing here in the dead of the night for the past twenty minutes waiting for one of his students to turn up. He had been summoned by Nagato, one of his most prized pupils, but he did not know what it was for.

Jiraiya had met Nagato when he was a young boy when he first came to Uzu no Kuni. Back then he was travelling around with an orphaned blonde boy that had just started receiving training from him. They had come to Uzu no Kuni so that Minato could further advance his Fuuinjutsu knowledge. Upon coming to the island they heard stories about a boy with the Sennin's eyes, so they investigated it a little bit and they soon found Uzumaki Nagato.

Nagato had manifested the Rinnegan, but he was not able to do some of the things that the Sennin could, even today with all of his experience, Nagato still pales in comparison to the Rikudō Sennin.

Nagato was being groomed by the Uzumaki to one day lead them, but the clan placed a lot of pressure on him, and well Nagato buckled underneath it all. He could not do anything properly, he even had a very shy personality, and to make matters worse he had no friends. His only interaction with the world was with his mentors.

When Minato and Jiraiya found him, they decided not to ask any questions and just hung out with him. It started off with small visits that lasted a few minutes, but after a while they became lengthy stays. Unfortunately the Uzumaki clan could not accept their friendship with Nagato so they had Minato and Jiraiya leave the island nation after a few months of having stayed there. During that time as well Minato had made friends with an up and coming fiery kunoichi, one that would later on be his wife.

When Jiraiya and Minato left Uzu no Kuni they did not realise that Nagato had stowed away on the boat until it was too late when they were more than half way through their sea travel towards the main land.

The reason Nagato had stowed away with them was simply because he felt that he could not handle the pressure of being with the Uzumaki clan. He felt more at peace around Minato and Jiraiya, and that was the truth. It showed when he was able to absorb Jiraiya's teachings nearly as well as Minato. Minato was excellent at Fuuinjutsu, taijutsu and Bukijutsu, while Nagato excelled at Ninjutsu, where he had mastered all five elements at a very young age.

They were rivals, and also the best of friends, but a few years later things changed. When Nagato finally met Kushina when he was taken back to Uzu no Kuni, after having spent years training under Jiraiya, Nagato immediately fell in love with the fiery kunoichi…too bad for him though she was already taken by his best friend Minato.

Their friendship became strained to the point where Minato and Nagato ended up fighting one another. Out of all of the battles Jiraiya had seen as a spectator, and sometimes as a passive participant, Minato and Nagato's battle took the hat when it came to the _"most impressive battle"_ category. Those two fought so hard, and so much that they nearly created their own version of _the Valley of the end_.

Luckily for everyone though there were no innocents that got hurt since they both fought at a very secluded part of the island.

The fight was so intense and brutal that many had termed it _"the battle of the gods"_. Nagato and his Rinnegan was _"the god of raw power"_ while Minato had his speed which earned him the title of _"the god of speed". _The fight would have resulted in either one of their deaths had it not been for the timely intervention of the woman they were fighting over.

Kushina had bound them both with her chakra chains and proceeded to yell the shit out of them. In the end though Kushina chose to stay with Minato, but she somehow managed to convince Nagato that although her heart belonged to Minato, she would always love him (Nagato) as well, but only as a friend.

Nagato finally accepted the way things were going to be for the rest of their lives, but his and Minato's friendship was never the same again. Although things managed to mend themselves over time, Jiraiya could tell that Nagato still secretly resented Minato for winning Kushina's heart.

While Jiraiya was busy thinking about his former students, one of said students was making his way through the forest towards him.

Nagato was currently wearing a dark grey hooded cloak over his normal attire as he made his way over to Jiraiya with a small bundle in his arms.

While on his way here, and also for the past few days, Nagato had contemplated whether or not he should reveal the truth about baby Naruto and just end his life. But two things stopped him from making those thoughts into a reality. One was the fact that despite being a shinobi, he was also still a caring human, and thus he could never bring himself to hurt an innocent baby.

The second one was that he had made a promise to Kushina, and he would uphold that promise. He would give Naruto to Jiraiya, just as he had promised to do.

Speaking of Jiraiya, the man turned to greet Nagato as he had approached from behind him.

"Yo, Nagato…how are you?" asked Jiraiya, despite not being able to see Nagato, he could tell that it was him due to the fact that Nagato had a very powerful chakra, and Jiraiya was also used to it having spent many years with the boy.

"Jiraiya-sensei." said Nagato in a cold voice that was devoid of all emotion.

Jiraiya immediately frowned upon hearing Nagato's tone, and it got even worse when Nagato pulled down his hood to reveal his face to the world. There was a grim expression plastered on the young Uzumaki leader's face.

"What's wrong, Nagato?" asked Jiraiya with a serious expression on his face.

"You would not know this since you were not around until twenty minutes ago, but…three night s ago the Kyuubi attacked my village Jiraiya-sensei." Nagato said grimly.

"What?" Jiraiya shouted out loud in incredulousness.

"It's as I said, Jiraiya-sensei…" said Nagato, this time bowing his head in shame.

"Wh-what…how?" was all Jiraiya could ask.

"I don't know…" Nagato lied, "but what I do know is that it took down nearly half my village, and along with those that are deceased are Minato and Kushina."

Jiraiya's eyes widened exponentially. Minato was dead. It just could not be…the boy, no; the man he loved like he was his own son was dead, slayed by the almighty Kyuubi.

"They died a true hero's death…both of them." Nagato said as tears filled his eyes before he wiped them away before they could spill.

"What do you mean?" asked Jiraiya, as he could tell that there was more to this than what Nagato was telling him.

"In order for Minato and Kushina to save Uzushiogakure no Sato, they sacrificed not only themselves, but their son as well." Nagato said.

Jiraiya mulled over Nagato's words for a second before the realisation hit Jiraiya like a ton of bricks falling on top of him.

"No…" was all he could say, but try as he might to deny it but the proof was in the pudding. Nagato was holding a baby sized bundle in his arms…and there was also the fact that Nagato had not said the exact words as to how Minato defeated the Kyuubi, but Jiraiya already knew the answer.

"Yes, Jiraiya-sensei…Naruto was turned into a Jinchuriki by his parents in order to protect the village." Nagato finally said.

Jiraiya's eyes remained wide with surprise, before they reclined back to normal before a few tears slipped down his face at the thought of Minato's death.

Nagato watched his sensei cry for a few minutes as he unloaded his anguish, similar to how he had done when Kushina died. After a few minutes though, Nagato decided that enough was enough, as he decided to cut in.

"Jiraiya-sensei…you can mourn Minato and Kushina's passing another time. Right now I am on a tight schedule. Those back in the village must not realise that I am gone for it would cause problems."

"Then why are you here then, Nagato." Jiraiya asked solemnly.

"Before Kushina passed away, she made me promise to hand Naruto over to you…"

"Wait, what? No, no, no, no…listen Nagato, I am no baby sitter and…"

"No, you listen Jiraiya-sensei." said Nagato in a raised voice, showing why he is a clan leader, "I know what you are going to say, but no. Naruto cannot stay on the island because if he did he would be discovered, and then executed. The Kyuubi's presence would be simple for those with special sensory skills to sense. Also you have no choice in the matter because Kushina made me promise to hand him over to you, and I will do just that, even if it is by force. You also happen to be Naruto's godfather so you cannot escape this."

Jiraiya just bent his head down as he knew that there was no way in hell that he would find a way around this predicament. And when push came to shove, Nagato would literally force him to take Naruto. So in the end all Jiraiya could do was nod his head in agreement.

Nagato said nothing as he proceeded to hand Naruto over to Jiraiya, who "gladly" accepted the blonde bundle with open arms.

After Nagato handed Naruto over to Jiraiya he stepped back from Jiraiya before he held out his arm as if he wanted Jiraiya to hand something over to him.

"What?" Jiraiya said.

"The black rod I gave you all those years ago…I want it back."

"What? Why?"

"You and I both know why Jiraiya…I am the Uzumaki clan head first, and Nagato second. Despite that though, I broke the oath I took which put the clan first above all else, and I kept Naruto alive. Know this Jiraiya-sensei, you and I can no longer see each other anymore…"

"Wait Nagato…"

"Know that you and I cannot be seen anymore because of Naruto…This is the only time I will break my oath as Uzumaki clan head…the next time I see either you or Naruto I will kill you both. In other words you are forbidden from ever entering Uzu again, because if you do, you are dead."

"Surely there has to be another way, Nagato?" Jiraiya asked frantically.

"No there isn't. The Uzumaki are a clan that are Fuuinjutsu masters, and thus they will figure out what Minato and Kushina did in order to save the village…Kushina's pregnancy was known throughout the entire Elemental nations so people will eventually find out who they turned into a Jinchuriki. There is no other way Jiraiya-sensei. Now give me the rod."

Jiraiya looked over the sleeping form of baby Naruto in his arms. He smiled at the sleeping baby as he saw how peaceful he was in his sleep. It just did not seem fair that Naruto had been dealt such a harsh fate…but not to worry, as long as he, the Gallant Jiraiya was around, then Naruto's fate would be less harsh than what it is. He would make sure of that.

Jiraiya reached into his pouch and pulled out a six inch rod from within it and handed it over to Nagato who just smiled at Jiraiya sadly before he said, "I guess this is goodbye, Jiraiya-sensei."

"Guess so, Kiddo. I'll see you…whenever." Jiraiya said.

"No, no you won't." Nagato said solemnly, before he clapped his hands together and Jiraiya and Naruto reverse summoned from Uzu to wherever the hell Jiraiya was before he was summoned to the island. Nagato just hoped that it was not the red light district, given Jiraiya's eccentric nature.

"Good bye, sensei."

**END**

**And that, ladies and gents is the end of the first chapter of my new story. For those who have read, and followed my other stories, don't worry, I have not forgotten about them. **

**I've decided to try a different approach when it came to writing stories, where instead of churning out chapters that are 10K+, I've decided to write out shorter chapters in hopes of being able to update quicker than what I normally do. **

**If it is a success, then I will start writing chapters that are 5K+ so as to update quicker than usual. **

**Anyway, I thing that's about it for now, so I'm out. **


	2. Chapter Two: Training under a Sage

A/N:

My depiction of Naruto will be like Kishi's for the most of it, although I will give him a jutsu or two extra. C'mon, you don't live with an S-ranked shinobi for years and not pick up anything more than just a Rasengan variant, Kishi screwed up with that BIG TIME.

Chapter Two: Training under a Sage

**Eight years later **

Jiraiya was currently sitting cross legged on top of a large cushion with a pen and paper in front of him underneath the patio of the small cottage that he lived in. He was currently writing something that was making him giggle perversely. He had been doing so for the past half hour, while he waited for his training companion. While Jiraiya continued to giggle perversely a yellow streak came out of the surrounding trees and landed in front of Jiraiya in a kneeling position.

Once the streak had stopped it was easy to view what it was exactly. It was a boy that had sunshine blonde hair that was really spiky. The boy had shining blue eyes that just vibrated of life and wonder. His face was also adorned with six whisker marks that were parallel to one another, as each hemisphere of his face contained three marks each.

The boy wore a pair of orange shinobi pants and a navy blue t-shirt that had spiral pattern on it along with a pair of blue shinobi sandals. He also had on a pair of green goggles on his forehead that had blue tinted glass and a huge grin on his face.

"Ne, ne, Ero-jiji, you promised to train me for real today." said the blonde boy in a very excited manner.

Jiraiya felt like face faulting when he heard the kid say that. Honestly he did not know where the kid got that name from, but he just used it on him all the time. He face faulted for the first six weeks when he heard the name, but after a while he got used to it.

"What do you mean by 'me training you for real'? Have I not been doing that, huh?" Jiraiya asked.

"Nope." The blonde boy answered happily, with a huge smile on his face that forced him to close his eyes because of its (the smile's) intensity.

"What do you mean by 'nope'?" Jiraiya asked again.

"I mean exactly that, Ero-jiji. Teaching me how to write perfectly without a single squiggle for the past six months got boring after just the first ten minutes." Naruto said.

"Damn brat, I was doing that for your own benefit. It will help you greatly when you study Fuuinjutsu. Besides, it would have been quicker had you not complained for half the time while doing it." Jiraiya said with a small smirk towards the end.

The blonde boy just sulked for a second before he asked, "And what if I suck at it?"

"Like hell you will…you've got Fuuinjutsu woven into your DNA kid. There is no way for you to suck at it." Jiraiya said confidently.

"Woven into my what?" asked the blonde, not exactly sure about what the heck DNA is.

Jiraiya just shook his head and said, "Never mind that right now, Naruto…let's just get to your first day of 'real' training." Jiraiya said, while he made the hand gesture for inverted commas with his hands.

Jiraiya stood up and walked to the back yard of the cottage while Naruto followed him from behind. The cottage had a huge perimeter seal all around it for about one kilometre. The seal was an Uzumaki clan perimeter seal that allowed for it to be used over a wide field that would warn anyone inside the cottage of a chakra presence that was higher than a rookie shinobi (in an alternate universe; that would be a genin).

Eight years, that is how long Naruto had been living under the care of Jiraiya no Gama Sennin (Jiraiya the Toad Sage). The boy was well developed for someone his age. You could tell just by looking at him that he had the structure of a shinobi, even though it was one that was still in development.

Naruto watched as Jiraiya sat down on the grass in a cross-legged position once again before he took out an ordinary scroll and opened it up and laid it down on the grass so the blonde could see what the scroll's contents were.

Naruto sat across Jiraiya and looked down at the scroll that was between both of them. He saw what looked like a time schedule written on one side of the scroll, while there was some sort of instruction on the other side. Naruto was slightly confused by this, so he turned his head up and looked at Jiraiya with a lopsided expression, while said Toad Sage looked Naruto in the eyes and said nothing.

Jiraiya was hoping that Naruto would be able to figure out what this was just by looking at it, but the blonde had nothing on his facial expression that showed that he knew what this was. Jiraiya was hoping to see if Naruto was even half the prodigy Minato was, but alas, it seemed the blonde was not.

After a minute or so at staring at each other Jiraiya sighed out loud and said, "This, Naruto, is your training schedule for the next few years. Now as you would remember all I've taught you for the past two years was how to read and write, and how to perform various physical exercises."

Naruto just nodded at that since it was the truth. Jiraiya had first said to him that before he taught him anything else that was shinobi orientated, the boy first had to be well developed physically.

"Well now we're moving on to Ninjutsu. But before we even go there we first need to do two things…number one is that we have to know which element you are aligned with, and two you…"

Jiraiya would have continued speaking had it not been for the fact that Naruto currently had on one of his famous confused expressions etched all over his face right now. Jiraiya just released a sigh and said, "What is it now, what don't you understand?"

"The element thing." Naruto said.

"What do you mean the element thing?" Jiraiya all but shouted out, "What did you do to the book I gave you that had notes on the subject of the five basic elements?"

Naruto had to pause for a second as he had to think carefully about this. He already knew what had happened to the book, but if he told Jiraiya that he just ignored it, the man would flip, so the best thing for him to do in this situation was to lie.

"Uh…the…dog ate…it?" Naruto said so meekly that it ended up sounding like a question towards the end of it. He felt like kicking himself right now because of what he had said. They had no dog; in fact there were no dogs for the next few kilometres as far as they both knew. What a lame excuse for real.

Jiraiya just palmed his forehead and said very tiredly, "You did not read it did you?"

Naruto just laughed embarrassedly with his hand reaching for the back of his head and scratching it, showing just how embarrassed he was.

Jiraiya just shook his head and looked down at the blonde disappointingly and said, "Naruto, I told you to read that so you would know what to expect when you and I had lessons. It was so I could skip this and save time but now it seems I will have to waste precious time teaching you something that is really mundane…oh well, let's just get on with it."

Naruto looked at the man apologetically before his facial expression became serious as he listened on as Jiraiya spoke to him, "Naruto each person is born with, or at least acquires, one chakra nature throughout their life time. There are five main elements that we as humans are aligned with. Those are Fire, Water, Wind, Earth and Lightning. Whatever affinity you are aligned with determines what you are going to specialise in…at least that is the theory behind it."

Naruto nodded his head at his teacher who just looked down at the blonde before he said, "Now as I was saying, we first need to find your element so I know what to teach you."

Naruto nodded his head, before he turned it into a semi upside down position and a confused expression made its way onto his face before he asked, "Wait, how are you gonna find out what element I am compatible with?"

Jiraiya smiled greatly at that and said, "For once gaki, you talked actual sense."

This made Naruto scowl while Jiraiya just smiled even more and said, "To answer your question…"

Jiraiya pulled out a small strip of paper from his own pouch and he handed it over to Naruto who had a confused expression on his face.

"Just channel some of your chakra into the paper and see what happens." was all Jiraiya said.

Naruto did as told by his master and just channelled some chakra into the piece of paper and watched on as it tore in half. Naruto looked on at the action with a lopsided expression.

"Ah, so you have Wind, huh?" Jiraiya said to the blonde.

"Wait, how do you know it's wind and not something as awesome as Fire?" Naruto said as he had been seriously hoping to get fire.

"Well looks like I forgot to mention that whenever the paper burns to a crisp that is when you have fire. When it soaks up that just means you have water. Earth is determined by the paper crumbling into dust, Lightning is determined by your paper crumpling, and the tearing of the paper means…"

"That I have wind." Naruto said dejectedly, with his head hung low. He was seriously hoping to create fire.

"Don't worry Naruto, just because you don't have a fire element; that does not mean you cannot learn Katon ninjutsu."

"Really?" Naruto asked with big, beady eyes.

"Yeah. Elemental affinities do not dictate which affinities we can and cannot use. They serve the simple purpose of telling us which element would best serve us in battle…although I doubt you would be able to perform Katon ninjutsu since you have wind."

Naruto looked down dejectedly once again as Jiraiya smashed any hopes of him having the ability to spit out a fireball, although he had to ask about something, "How does me having wind chakra stop me from learning Katon ninjutsu?"

Jiraiya seemed to mule things over for a second before he said, "I know you won't understand it if I just give you a normal answer, so I want you to picture this for a sec…you want to make a fire. You manage to light up the fire wood, but it the flame is not strong enough, what do you do?"

"Um, you blow really hard into the fire." Naruto answered.

"Precisely. That is what you would normally do…now the same principle applies towards elemental affinities. The wind you blew into the fire made it (the fire) strong, right?"

Naruto nodded his head at that.

"Well the same thing applies with ninjutsu…wind attacks make fire stronger…so in essence, your worst opponent would be a Katon jutsu user since you would be practically helping them if you tried to use Fuuton jutsu on them. You learning Katon is next to impossible simply because you have wind within you as a natural element."

Naruto looked down at the earth after what Jiraiya said. For a moment Jiraiya was afraid he had broken the boy's resolve, but he was proven wrong as a second later Naruto's eyes shot towards him with a piercing blue flame buried in them, with Naruto holding up a clenched fist as he said, "No. I won't accept that. I will work towards being a great shinobi like you and my parents, and I WILL learn Katon ninjutsu, one way or the other."

Jiraiya smiled at the boy. Of course Jiraiya had lied about Naruto never learning how to use Katon, he still could, even with the wind affinity he had. For him though it was going to be tougher due to the fact that wind was a near polar opposite of fire.

Jiraiya had lied to Naruto so as to test his resolve, and also to see if he was the type of individual that was easily swayed by what other's said…he was glad that the blonde passed with flying colours. The test was also to determine how dedicated Naruto would be to learning an additional element, one that would be very hard for him to learn, and once again he passed with flying colours.

Minato and Naruto were polar opposites when it came to many things. Their interests, their dislikes, their way of thinking, and finally the way they acted. While Naruto acted like this because he had never seen the outside world properly, Minato had, and while he was a determined person, Naruto's determination seemed to blow his (Minato's) out the water.

He had enjoyed his time as Minato's mentor. Minato absorbed everything like a sponge, and that also applied to Nagato, but only when his emotions were in check. But Naruto was not like either of the two men who were natural prodigies. Naruto seemed like he would take longer to learn things, but that was something that was surprisingly okay with Jiraiya, this way he could teach Naruto the way he has always wanted to teach someone, the same way he was taught things.

"Okay," Jiraiya said, "if that is how you feel, then let's begin."

Naruto nodded and he watched as Jiraiya stood up, and he mimicked the man's motion. They headed for the nearest tree where Jiraiya took out a kunai and handed it over to Naruto, while the blonde looked at the elder man, waiting for an explanation.

"Remember I said we were going to do two things today?"

Naruto nodded his head at the man's words.

"Well this is it. You are going to learn a new chakra control exercise that should not take you more than two days to learn."

"Really?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Yeah. This exercise is called the tree climbing exercise…now hold on, don't worry, it isn't that kind of tree climbing; this one is really cool." Jiraiya said after he saw the semi-defiant look on the blonde's face.

"Then how do you do this?" Naruto asked.

"Like this." was all Jiraiya said before he slowly started to walk up the vertical surface of the tree very slowly. Naruto watched the old man in awe as he walked to the top of the tree before he back flipped down onto the ground without any effort.

"Sugoi." Naruto said to himself in a small, yet awe-filled voice.

"Yeah, now you try. You will channel chakra to your feet and then you will proceed to run up this tree, and wherever you lose your footing on, I want you to mark that area of the tree so you can see how far you actually progressed."

Naruto looked Jiraiya in the eyes and nodded his head before he set of for the tree at a fast pace. He placed one foot on the tree trunk before he was blown backwards as the spot that he had put his foot on, on the tree, bent inwards from the pressure of his chakra release.

Jiraiya laughed as he watched Naruto pull himself up from the ground and glare at both him and the tree.

"Too much pressure will get you blown off the tree gaki, and too little will make you slip and fall flat on your butt. You need to find the perfect balance, and only then will you be able to do this without a hitch." Jiraiya said to Naruto, after he had stopped laughing at the blonde.

Naruto nodded his head again before he proceeded to try once again, this time he managed to get three steps up before he fell on his butt, causing Jiraiya to laugh at him once again.

While Jiraiya laughed at Naruto on the outside, on the inside he was currently thinking about what had said. There was no way you could master this exercise in two days, but that was the ultimatum he had given Naruto, and he knew that the blonde was secretly hoping to beat that time limit. Well only time would tell.

"Don't forget to mark that area Naruto." Jiraiya said.

Naruto just nodded as he carried on doing as instructed by Jiraiya as he kept running up the tree, only to get blasted away and land on his butt, or slip and fall on his butt.

Jiraiya just watched on with a smile on his face. Naruto was a very determined individual. His previous child minder, Natsumi, had said so when she would be left with the blonde wonder.

Natsumi was someone Jiraiya had hired during the first few day of his tenor as Naruto's minder. Jiraiya may have been an excellent shinobi, but he was by no means a parental figure, even he knew that. Still though, that did not mean that he would not try his best to take care of Naruto.

Natsumi was brought in for the express purpose of taking care of the boy and raising him well, and she managed to do that.

She had mentioned on a few occasions that Naruto was determined, even though he was clumsy, but there was always something that he did that made you admire his determination.

Jiraiya started him early on his ninjutsu training so that he could see just exactly how determined the blonde was. He was happy with the results.

Naruto would need to be strong as far as Jiraiya was concerned. The whole world knew of what Minato Namikaze did in order to save the village of Uzushiogakure no Sato. Jiraiya had travelled, and connected with many of his spies across the continent, and they all told him the same thing. Some of the clans of the world wanted the boy dead. He was public enemy number one to them. Others wanted him so they could harness the power of the Kyuubi. The rest just did not care at all.

Naruto's existence also had the subsequent effect of making the Uzumaki and the Uchiha bigger enemies than they already were.

According to one of his spies, the Uzumaki clan head, Nagato, said that on the night of the Kyuubi's attack he had encountered a masked man that manipulated the Kyuubi to do his bidding. He said that the masked man happened to be an Uchiha due to the fact that he was manipulating the Kyuubi through the use of a Sharingan.

When the news reached the Uchiha, they denied it, saying that the Uzumaki were framing them for what happened to their village. Even though it was a well-known fact that there was once an Uchiha that had manipulated the Kyuubi, the Uchiha still denied it all.

This back and forth banter between them soon turned to outright hate for one another. Despite the Uzumaki being Senju relatives, the Uchiha had no outright hate for them. This incident seemed to bring it out into the open for all.

Jiraiya quickly shook his head as he realised that he had been too engrossed in his own thoughts even for his liking.

He looked up towards his apprentice who was still trying, and failing miserably to master the tree walking exercise.

Jiraiya just smiled at the scene.

**One Month Later**

Naruto was currently doing sit ups, in nothing but a pair of swimming shorts, on top of a slow moving lake current. The lake was a few kilometres from his home for the past eight years. Jiraiya had made him do chakra control exercises to the point where Naruto was getting pretty fed up with them. Sure learning how to walk up a vertical surface and a liquid surface had its uses, but there was no way he wanted to do this forever.

It had taken him a total of three days to get to the top of the tree when he did his tree climbing exercise, and when Jiraiya had deemed him ready to move on to water walking, it took him a week to do it proficiently, in a fast moving current. Right now he was doing one of Jiraiya's various impromptu chakra control exercises. He had done those for the past month. There was one where he had to balance ten leaves onto different parts of his body while running up a tree. That one left a sore memory…and a sore butt.

He had done push ups on top of water, now he was doing sit ups on top of the water as well.

"Ninety seven…ninety eight…ninety nine…one hundred." Naruto huffed out loud as he tiredly fell onto his back, causing the water to splash him a little bit.

"Nice warm up, gaki." Jiraiya shouted at Naruto from a nearby bank.

Naruto just laid on his back for about a minute before he slowly got up onto his feet and slowly made his way over to his guardian/grandpa/mentor.

Once Naruto reached the shore he made his way over to a small bundle of clothes and took a towel that was underneath them and dried himself before he put on his clothes and walked up to his sensei.

"Alright gaki, good warm up…now as promised I shall be teaching you something new today." Jiraiya said with a slight grin on his face.

"What's that gonna be, Ero-jiji?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Brat, what did I say about that name?" Jiraiya asked threateningly.

"Um, I don't know." Naruto feigned innocence and stupidity all at once.

"You know very well what I said I would do to you if you did not stop calling me that."

"Maybe, but I've been doing it; and yet you haven't enforced anything on me." Naruto said proudly.

"Disrespectful gaki…just you wait, I will find the perfect thing to get you with, you will see."

"Whatever." Naruto said dismissively, "Now, what are we learning today?" he added at the end.

Jiraiya forgot about what he wanted to say to Naruto and instead decided to focus on today's lesson.

"Alright gaki, today you shall learn how to master your element. Now normally, this would be seen as something that is too advanced for someone your age, but I believe that you are the exception. You have high chakra reserves for someone your age, and you also have "you know what" in you."

Naruto just nodded his head at that, although his smile did disappear when he was reminded of his burden. It too him a while to understand it well enough to realise the complications that were involved in his life, but Naruto now understood his burden. Jiraiya had recently told him the cause behind his parent's death, and the reason why he could not be seen by the outside world until he was strong enough to take care of himself. He hated the fact that he was a Jinchuriki, the very first jinchuriki in the world.

It meant that he would never truly live a normal life…well, as normal as it got in this shinobi clan infested world.

Jiraiya saw Naruto's solemn look on Naruto's face, but he decided not to entertain it as he instead chose to get the blonde's mind off his jinchuriki issues, and instead chose to continue his training.

"Naruto, concentrate." Jiraiya said to the blonde, snapping Naruto out of his funk and making him concentrate on the perverted old man, "Now, the reason I had you do so many different chakra control exercises was because I was still trying to figure out what to teach you Ninjutsu wise."

"And did you find what you wanted to teach me?..."

"Unfortunately, no. I am primarily a Katon jutsu user followed by Doton…I have not fuuton ninjutsu that I could teach to you since I have none, and my summons only know Senpou (Sage art – can only be performed by those that have mastered natural energy) techniques. So there's nothing much I can teach you really…so I just thought that maybe by mastering your element, maybe you can one day create your own unique jutsu arsenal."

"Bummer…" said Naruto quietly before he looked Jiraiya in the eyes and said, "Well, when do we begin?"

"That's more like it." said Jiraiya smiling down at his apprentice.

**Ta no Kuni border **

Five men were seen coming out of a small town that was located outside of Ta no Kuni. They each wore a matching black travel cloak that had a hood, and they also had different weapons on their backs. A brown haired male carried an ordinary looking katana strapped to the side, while anther facially scarred bald male that had a bulky body carried a spiked bludgeon on him.

A black haired male that had his hair cut short carried a nodachi on him…well he had it slung over his shoulder, while another long haired muscular ponytailed man carried a battle axe. The final member of the group was a silver haired male that carried a red tri bladed scythe slung over his right shoulder.

The men were walking out of the town and into the woods; all of them had victorious smirks on their faces.

"You think Jashin-sama will like what we did with the town, Oboro?" asked the short black haired individual.

The bald, muscular one grunted and said, "I don't know why you're asking me, Sims. Why not ask Jin?" he finished his sentence by pointing at the long haired black haired male.

"Don't look at me, Sims. Ask Natsu or Hidan will ya." Jin said.

"Of course he will you motherfucking animals." said Hidan with a wide smirk on his face.

"Just you wait," said Natsu, the brown haired male, "soon we will be like Hidan-san, and we will all be immortal."

All of the men laughed out very loudly…that is until a deep voice said, "I beg to differ with that statement…you will never be immortal."

All five men stopped laughing and turned around instantly and they were greeted by the sight of a man with short, spiky, orange hair, tanned skin and a pair of very black beady eyes that held a cold calmness in them. The man was dressed in purple pants that had white ankle warmers tied to them along with a pair of purple sandals and a black cloak with red clouds on it.

"Who the fuck are you?" asked Hidan.

"Who I am is not really important…but what I can offer is." The man said.

"And what is it that you can offer us?" asked Jin not trusting this strange individual, with his hand already reaching for his trusted battle axe.

"I was not talking to you or the other weak ingrates. I was talking to your leader." The man said in a deep, yet calm voice.

"You know what? I don't want to know anything else anymore from you, you jerk. Lemme just end you." Jin said before lifting his battle axe and rushing in at the orange haired man and raised his axe, looking to decapitate his opponent. Jin swung down at the man, but at the last second the orange haired male moved so fast that too may it would not even be seen, in fact the only person who saw him move was Hidan, and even then he only saw a blur.

A second later the orange haired man was standing two feet in front of his original position, with his back to Jin and with his right arm stretched out and his index and middle finger joined together pointing out to the side with a very thin blue object that was seven inches long, and also very pointy.

The blue object lost its solid state and turned into water that splashed down onto the ground. But that was not the only liquid that fell to the ground. Jin's neck started oozing a thin red line, but that line lost its form and just poured down his body onto the ground and Jin's head soon followed the blood.

The other four males watched with wide eyes as Sims' was decapitated like it was nothing. They soon got over their shock and started attacking the orange haired man.

Sims the nodachi wielder rushed in from the right hand side while Oboro took out his bludgeon and came in from the left, and Natsu came straight for the man. Hidan stayed back, looking to see what this guy was made off. Sims swung high with his nodachi while Oboro swung low. Natsu just stabbed right into the middle.

The orange haired man went through a small string of hand seals so fast that none of his attackers saw it…what they did see however, or feel, was a column of water jumping out of the ground and slamming them so hard that it forced all three men into the air.

The man then crouched low and stretched his hands out and Hidan watched as the man's hands gained the same weapon he had used to decapitate Jin, this time in both hands. Before Hidan could even try to interfere, the orange haired man was already in the air, spinning like a top between the three air born men.

A second later the man landed in a crouched position on the ground before pieces of his victims rained down from the sky in a red fountain.

Hidan had to admit that this guy was clinical when he did things. Jin, Sims, Oboro and Natsu were strong, not as strong as he was, but they were strong none the less…and yet this man had seemingly decapitated them, and then sliced the last four into pieces.

Hidan then saw that the man was looking at his with cold eyes, but before Hidan could do anything, the range haired man was behind him with the strange two finger blade pressed to his neck. It immediately froze Hidan, and it actually made him forget that he was immortal.

"I would not do anything rash if I were you. I don't want to kill you…I just want to talk." The man whispered into Hidan's ear in a cold voice.

"What do you want?" Hidan asked, trying to hide the slight fear he felt for the man. No one he had met had such a strong presence as the man behind him right now.

The orange haired man pushed Hidan forward before Hidan turned around quickly, only to be met by the strange finger blade pointing out at him.

"I want you, Hidan…I want to change the world. And in order to do that I need your special talents."

"So you know about my immortality?" Hidan asked, only remembering now that he was immortal.

"Yes…and do not worry, the position I am offering you in my organisation is one that would allow you to carry out as many sacrifices to your god as you pleased…just like you did in that town you just left."

Hidan looked at the orange haired man for a second as if he were contemplating his decision before he smirked and said, "Well, where do I sign up…"

The orange haired man realised that Hidan was asking for his name, so he deactivated his technique and held his hand out for Hidan to shake, and said man shook it as the orange haired man said, "Yahiko…and welcome to Akatsuki, Hidan."

**Four Years Later**

Naruto was currently running at a fast pace as he looked left and right as if he was searching for something. Naruto had grown up well over the last for years ever since he started what he termed "true training". He was now more developed physically, as his body was both lean and muscular at the same time. He was taller than the average twelve year old.

In terms of his choice of clothing Naruto wore a pair of orange pants, a plain black t-shirt and black shinobi sandals, and he still wore his goggles proudly on his forehead. He now carried a weapon on his back…two to be exact. One was a red staff that was in a red tube that had one opening to allow the red staff to be placed inside it, and also to be removed when needed to be. The other weapon was a black hilted, silver bladed chokuto that was in a black sheath.

Both weapons were on his back in an "x" position and were held by nothing but chakra that made them stick onto his back.

Naruto could have tied them up with sashes, but he believed that keeping them on his back through chakra served to further argument his chakra control. He was fairly decent at that – chakra control. He was not the best, but he was better than okay when it came to it.

Naruto came to a complete stop in the middle of a clearing. The reason why he did so was directly in front of him in the form of Jiraiya. Jiraiya just stood perfectly still and waited for Naruto to make the next move.

Naruto kindly obliged as he threw a handful of shuriken at the old man, but Jiraiya took out a kunai and deflected them all, and by the time his attention had refocused on Naruto, the kid was nowhere to be seen.

Jiraiya stood still as he combed his surroundings, looking for the blonde wonder. He did not have to look for long as a pair of kunai flew out of a nearby shrub that was to his left. Jiraiya caught both kunai with his hands, and then he heard a familiar sizzling noise that alerted him to the kunai wrapped around the kunai handles. A second later the clearing was engulfed by a huge mushroom cloud.

After a few minutes the mushroom died down to reveal many of the surrounding trees that were near the clearing where blown to smithereens.

Naruto came to view a few seconds later to survey the damage he had done.

"Nice…" was all he said in an impressed voice. But then again why would he not be impressed. The exploding tags used were a more powerful variant of his. According to Jiraiya's knowledge on seals, the man said that the reason why Naruto's seals were so powerful were because they were unstable. And he was right…Naruto's seals had a ten day life span, and then after that, they would go up in smoke regardless of the fact that he had used them or not.

That was why he had trained himself to be so quick when it came to drawing his unique sealing method that he could draw it up in under three seconds in the heat of battle. Too bad that was the only seal he could do that for. Other seals still took very long to draw up.

While Naruto was busy admiring his handiwork; and also looking for Jiraiya, said Gama Sennin was currently looking down at his apprentice with pride. Naruto had come long after being tutored by him for the last six years.

The boy hated academic things, just like he did when he was younger, he preferred physical things, and Naruto was just like that. Naruto was strong enough to hold his own for now in battle. The kid could draw up his advanced seal for exploding tags in less than five seconds…Jiraiya had stolen Naruto's unstable seal without the blonde's knowledge. You never knew when an exploding tag strong enough to wipe out an entire bock could come in handy.

Naruto was no prodigy, just a hard worker…just like he was. He needed to have things explained to him in their simplest formats…sometimes, when Naruto did not understand anything, Jiraiya would draw things up for him. Naruto was a very determined individual.

If his skills were to be broken up, Jiraiya would break them up into this.

*His Fuuinjutsu knowledge was at a beginner's level; despite developing a powerful seal…it was just a variant of a level one seal. The only other seals he could create were seals for sealing scrolls.

*His genjutsu was his Achilles heel. He had no talent for it, whatsoever. It was one of the few family traits he had earned from his parents, although he was worse than they were. He just knew how to dispel them.

*His ninjutsu was better than both his Fuuinjutsu and Genjutsu. His ninjutsu was hard to come around, considering Jiraiya was not elementally compatible with him. Jiraiya could not teach him any Fuuton ninjutsu since he had none. And getting his hands on a Fuuton jutsu scroll was out of the question since he had to stay and look after Naruto…there was no way he was going to Kaze no Kuni for something as mundane as that.

Instead Jiraiya had Naruto work hard at mastering his element so that he would come up with his own jutsu if possible. The blonde was no genius, but he was unpredictable than a genius, and that was proven when he mistakenly created his only fuuton jutsu, the Fuuton: Kaze Tsurugi no Jutsu (Wind Style: Wind Blade Technique).

The technique involved him channelling a lot of wind chakra to his blade, so much so that when he swings his blade, it causes his unstable wind laced sword to launch the wind blade. The blade varies in sizes depending on how much chakra Naruto put in it. The Kaze Tsurugi no Jutsu was his only elemental jutsu.

He supplemented his lack of elemental jutsu with two non-elemental jutsu (not gonna tell you what it is yet…but it certainly isn't Rasengan).

*His strongest facet was his taijutsu. If you got anywhere within a close range with him, you were doomed. He packs a very hard punch. Couple that with his red staff and you had one deadly combo.

Jiraiya shook himself out of his funk and looked down at Naruto and said, "Alright, Naruto, let's end it here today."

Naruto turned around and saw his master jump down from the top of a tree that was behind him and land on the ground effortlessly.

"Why, we were just getting into the heat of things?" Naruto whined.

"Naruto, I'm going today…I need to meet up with one of my contacts and reconnect with him."

"Alright."

"You remember the rules for when I am gone, right?"

"Yeah, no one is to discover me due to you know what…and if you are gone for more than six months, then I should leave the immediate area and head somewhere else because if could be that you have been taken down by someone." Naruto recited.

"Yep, precisely." Jiraiya said happily.

"When are you leaving?"

"Two hours from now."

Naruto just nodded his head at that.

Naruto and Jiraiya headed back to the cottage where Naruto took a bath and changed his attire while Jiraiya packed, and precisely two hours later the Gama Sennin was already leaving, with Naruto smiling and waving at him.

"Bye, Ero-jiji."

"Be careful brat," Jiraiya threatened, "I might make you go on a ramen free diet for a month for calling me that."

Naruto's eyes widened in abject horror and he started crying anime tears while Jiraiya left him to his devices, departing into the sun…but he did not know that this might very well be the last time he saw Naruto.

**END**

**Do not worry about the time fast-forwarding. This was done to just get the training montage out of the way. There was no way I was going to waste time on something that can be done in one chapter. I won't make Naruto unbelievably strong…I want to try and make it believable.**

**Read, Review, you know…the works. I'm purposely writing short chapters so I can update this story within a three day time span. **

**That's it for now…I'm Out.**


	3. Chapter Three: Chance Meeting

**A/N: **

**Dear "Guest" that does not know who the f*** Shizuka is…I suggest you either watch Naruto all over again or you utilise Google…it would be so much easier than you asking this stupid question of yours. **

**Anyway, here's the next chapter.**

Chapter Three: Chance Meeting

The forest had a serene calm to it. The birds were chirping happily, the snakes crawled out of their holes so as to either hunt for food or to bathe in the sun's rays. All in all, it was a very beautiful, yet peaceful morning. That is until a loud crash was heard resonating through the forest accompanied by a very loud raw.

A second later a huge bear came crashing through the clearing, toppling trees along the way as it seemed to be running away from something. Another second later that thing revealed itself to be a boy with blonde hair and a black t-shirt along with a pair of orange pants and a pair of black shinobi sandals.

The boy was laughing maniacally as he chased after the huge bear.

"Get back here you scaredy cat…I mean bear." Naruto said out loud.

The bear seemed to raw out loud in what seemed to be rejection to Naruto's plea. Naruto just laughed like a maniac and continued to chase after the bear.

Naruto had done this before. He has done it so many times he has lost count. He takes on whatever strong animal he can face in battle so that he can improve as a shinobi. Naruto's two favourite creatures to fight were bears and mountain lions.

Naruto continued to chase the bear for another hour before he finally stopped, due to the fact that he was hungry. Naruto left the bear alone; but not before saying, "Don't worry, I'll be back next week."

The bear whined in indignation at the prospect of having to fight the puny, yet also surprisingly strong, human child.

Naruto slowly walked back to the clearing that contained the cottage he had been living in for the past twelve and a half years. It was cool and all, but Naruto wished that he could get out and see the world more. Jiraiya had taught him a lot of things, but there were just some things that you could only learn about by experiencing the world.

Speaking of Jiraiya, the self-proclaimed super pervert had been gone for exactly five months and three weeks. Naruto's instincts told him to immediately leave and look for the man, but Jiraiya had made him promise that he would only leave exactly six months after he had gone AWOL. Still though, Naruto missed the man greatly. He was one of the only people that Naruto would ever talk with, and that was because Naruto had to be hidden from the world's eyes.

The other person was Natsumi, his former minder. Unfortunately for him though he had not seen Natsumi in years. Once he had started what he had deemed "real training" Natsumi disappeared. He asked Jiraiya once or twice, but the man simply said that Natsumi left because she no longer needed to take care of him.

Naruto was a little let down at that, but he promised himself to find her once he left the cottage to see the outside world.

Naruto had not noticed it but he had walked all the way to the front door of the cottage and stood there for few minutes as he silently contemplated things over in his mind.

Naruto broke himself out of his own funk and placed his hand on the door and opened it.

Naruto walked inside his home for the past twelve years and immediately shut the door and he went to the bathroom. Once inside the bathroom he stripped off his clothes and jumped into a tub filled with cold water. One of the many disadvantages of living away from civilisation was that you never really had access to a proper watering system. So it was without surprise that one of the many things Naruto wanted to experience was a proper hot bath.

Naruto slow bathe himself in the cold water as he thought things over, mostly his life. If Jiraiya was truly taken down, then he would have to go look for the man. He would have to rescue his Ero-jiji from whoever was strong enough to take him down. The prospect of doing so frightened Naruto greatly. He was nowhere near his jiji's level, and yet he had to face the prospect of tackling someone that was stronger than the old man.

Naruto continued to think things over as he finished bathing. He got out of the tub and unplugged the stopper and watched as the water drained out of the tub before he took an old sack and washed the tub. Once done he left the bathroom to change into a clean pair of the same clothes he wore during his morning run in with the bear.

Naruto then went to the mini library that Jiraiya had created. The library was not even a library, it more of a collection of scrolls and books that Jiraiya had collected over the years from different experiences with different people, and sometimes clans.

Naruto walked up to the jutsu scrolls section and took a jutsu scroll that had a puffy cloud symbol on it. The symbol, from what Naruto remembered Jiraiya lectured him on, was the symbol of the Sarutobi clan. Naruto took the scroll of the Sarutobi clan and walked over to the lounge, where he sat down on one of only two couches and looked it over. Naruto was not the type of person to learn Jutsu from a scroll, especially clan ninjutsu.

He was already hated enough in the ninja world as it was…he did not need to give the shinobi clans anymore reason to hate him, especially when it would be for stealing their jutsu, which in the shinobi world were considered more valuable than gold.

Naruto had decided to give this scroll a look over because he was bored. With Jiraiya gone, the only things he could do were to train, eat and sleep. That's it…nothing else.

He opened the scroll and saw that it contained two jutsu in it. From what Naruto had seen from his previous readings of clan scrolls was that the fewer jutsu that were written there, the more valuable the jutsu was to them. Really powerful jutsu had their own scrolls.

Naruto read the name of the first jutsu, "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique)."

That was strange because this jutsu, according to the scroll was a B-rank technique, so why was it written in a scroll that only contained two jutsu? Maybe the second Jutsu was more valuable than this one.

"Kage Shuriken no Jutsu (Shadow Shuriken Technique)."

This was of a lower rank, ranking at C-rank…why the heck did the Sarutobi clan write two low rank jutsu in a scroll meant for something arguably more powerful.

Naruto just decided to shrug and move on. There was no way for him to get answers on these queries when he practically lived alone.

Naruto looked the scroll over again. Techniques this simple don't really need to have a clan stamp of approval, for all he knew the Sarutobi clan took it from somewhere else. So it would not hurt if he broke his rule once and decided to learn these two jutsu.

Naruto looked over the small fire place that they had and saw that the clock that was mounted onto the wall read ten thirty. He decided to get this jutsu down, so he decided to walk to his back yard to start training in how to use the Jutsu.

Naruto stopped at the centre of his back yard. He took out the scroll once again and gave it another comb over. He read the instructions about what he needed to do so as to be able to perform the jutsu, and once he had crammed the hand seals into his brain, he got down to business.

He took a shuriken from his pouch and placed it in his hands. He then channelled chakra into it and then he released it, throwing it towards a tree while going through four hand seals.

'Ne, saru, I, tatsu' he intoned mentally.

"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Naruto said aloud.

Nothing happened…the shuriken he threw just imbedded itself on a tree.

"Darn it…not enough chakra." Naruto said to himself.

He took out another shuriken and repeated the process. Once again nothing happened. He kept on doing the jutsu, and it wasn't until his seventh try that he managed to get something.

Two shuriken instantly appeared next to the one that was the original and sailed passed a nearby tree, disappearing off into the forest.

"Whoa!" Naruto said in a bit of awe, "That was not supposed to happen until my thirty third try at least, knowing my luck and all."

With new found determination, Naruto continued to train in the techniques, doing so up until he was beyond tired, and the backyard was littered by shuriken.

He looked up at the sun and decided to turn in for the day.

**Four days later **

Naruto was currently stuck in a clearing a couple hundred metres away from his home. He was still practising the Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, but this time he was using a variant of it, utilising kunai instead of shuriken, just like how the scroll explained. He had gotten the shuriken to multiply to fifty…that was all he could do right now. According to the scroll, the more experience you gain using this technique, the more they multiply. In the end the technique can only be mastered once you know how to utilise it to its maximum by creating hundreds of shuriken.

When it came to kunai it was a little bit different. The same principles that were used for shuriken apply, but the change in weapon structure also means that there is a change in how you use the technique, along with how you create it.

He was currently sitting on just seven kunai. That was not bad considering that it took him longer than two hours to reach the count of seven when he used shuriken. Naruto attributed it to the fact that the shuriken multiplying gave him some experience in using the jutsu, so that was all there was to it.

Naruto threw another kunai before he intoned, "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

The one kunai multiplied into seven once again, where they proceeded to imbed themselves into a tree, at least four did. The other three just sailed right past it.

"Huh," a slightly tired Naruto said, "let's call it a day."

He then proceeded to hold up the ram seal, and then he watched as all of the replicated kunai turned to smoke, signifying that the technique was over. Naruto then walked around the small clearing and picked up all of his kunai before he headed back to the clearing that his home was located at.

Naruto arrived around twenty minutes later and decided to perform his daily ritual of bathing and then eating before finally resting for the duration of the day.

Naruto performed the mundane tasks of taking a bath and eating with practised ease before he went into the lounge and took a seat on the couch, with a scroll already in front of him.

As he was about to pick up the scroll and read its contents, a searing pain shot through the back of his right hand. He immediately went to scratch the hand, in hopes of making the pain dissipate. Luckily for him, the pain was temporary. The pain ceased after a few second of trying to scorch Naruto's skin firm inside out.

Naruto inwardly sighed to himself as he felt it cool down. But it was during this cooling down process that Naruto remembered what this was…or to be more precise, what the pain represented.

**Flashback**

**A nine year old Uzumaki Naruto was currently sitting in front of Jiraiya the Gama Sennin. The man had a paint brush in his hand as he meticulously painted a seal over Naruto's right hand.**

"**What's this for, Ero-jiji?" Naruto asked the man. **

**Jiraiya ignored the Ero-jiji thing and just decided to answer, "This is a seal that is connected to my perimeter seal."**

"**What does it do?" **

"**Glad you asked…you see this seal (perimeter) acts as a warning for you. If someone with chakra equal to, or greater than, a rookie shinobi comes through my perimeter seal…"**

"**It will warn us. I get it, you have said it too many time s before already." said a very annoyed Naruto. **

"**Of course I have…anyway; this new seal that I am drawing on you is basically connected to the perimeter seal. If it should happen that someone does pass the perimeter seal, this will warn us before anything can happen. It will create a burning sensation that should only last a few seconds…anyway let's finish up."**

**Flashback End**

Shit! If the seal on the back of hand did heat up, then there really was someone that had crossed over onto his territory. Naruto grabbed hold of his staff and sword and then went into the kitchen. On the kitchen wall was a map of the surrounding area for the next ten kilometres.

Naruto channelled some chakra into the map and watched as the map suddenly grew six black dots. Five of the six black dots were seemingly following the leading dot. They were less than a half a kilometre away from his house.

Jiraiya had bought a map from a traveller a few years after Naruto became his charge. He had put a special seal on the map to make it so that it was connected to the perimeter seal. It would allow the user to see anything, or at least find anyone that was within the perimeter seal.

Naruto took off after seeing that the culprits were south east of the map. Naruto dashed out of the house and headed for the intruders. This was the first time there had ever been anyone to cross the perimeter. He had been drilled by Jiraiya on many occasions on how to act towards them. During his earlier years, when he was significantly weaker, Jiraiya had instructed him to hide in their underground base up until the intruders left.

Once Naruto finally landed a blow to Jiraiya in one of their spars, Jiraiya instructed him to scout them out first. And if he could do so, he should take them out. If not, go into hiding.

Naruto ran at fast speeds in hope of reaching his intended target quickly.

**Deep Inside the forest – South East **

Six figures were running at a very fast pace through the dense forest. One was ahead of the other five. It would be only through closer inspection that one would be able to determine that the one in front was actually being chased by the other five.

The first figure was of a girl that had bubble-gum pink hair, green eyes and soft looking skin. She was wearing a pair of black shinobi pants with matching sandals along with a green top that had the words _"Haruno Industries_" in bold while it had _"the science of tomorrow_" as a subtitle. The girl also happened to be carrying a backpack, although it seemed a bit worn out.

The girl had a few cuts on her clothing here and there, but it was nothing serious.

Her pursuers essentially wore the same thing. They had on full ninja outfits, masks and all, although only one seemed to not have a mask on them. He had short, green hair, with an umbrella strapped across back, held by a thin rope. His outfit was white, unlike the others who all had on black outfits.

"C'mon girlie, stop!" shouted one of the black body suit clad shinobi.

The girl chose to not listen and she continued to run. She was running for her life. Why did she have to be part of a powerful family? She would be fine right now, instead these guys came out of nowhere and chased her to the deepest parts of the Hi no Kuni forests.

She was smart, and that showed when she had managed to outwit them several times, slipping right past their clutches. If only she had the stamina to keep this going on for long. Unfortunately just because she received shinobi training did not change the fact that she was born as a civilian with no clan affiliation. If she was from a clan, she was sure that she would not be as tired as she was feeling right now.

She kept on running for her life, she kept on dodging the odd weapon they sent her way in order to slower her down. She dodged them all. Well not one hundred percent dodge, but it was enough for her to keep on running until now.

Rokushō Aoi was currently watching the girl they had been chasing for a while now with disgust. Despite her being a civilian she was well trained, this being evident in how she had managed to out run him and his squad for the past few hours.

The mission was simple. The Shiroi Hebi (White Snake) clan had received info that the heiress to the Haruno empire ad somehow left without her parents knowing. Apparently the girl was searching for something…what that thing was, Aoi did not know, nor did he care. All he cared about was completing his master's mission, and also going higher up in the Shiroi Hebi clan hierarchy.

The Shiroi Hebi clan were not a real clan, they were just a bunch of outlaws that were brought together by the one they called their leader. Now, the Shiroi Hebi clan operate like most clans, although they are more dangerous than most. The only exceptions were the Uchiha, the Senju, the Uzumaki, the Kaguya and Yotsuki clans. Maybe the Sarutobi and the Hyuuga as well.

Aoi decided to use the move he had been saving as a last resort. He also had not used the technique before because of the fact that it was best done on stationary targets.

Aoi took the umbrella he had strapped onto his back and he threw it into the air. His subordinates saw what he was doing and decided to act accordingly. When senbon started flying out of the umbrella and rained down on everyone, Aoi included, two of his men sped through some hand seals before they said, "Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Style: Water Wall)!"

They then spat out copious amounts of water from their mouths and watched as the entire senbon shower that headed their way was blocked, while only the senbon heading towards the pinked haired girl had their trajectory remain the same.

The girl saw the senbon heading her way, but they were too fast and too many for her to simply duck through. So she did the one move she had been doing for the past couple of hours. As soon as the senbon made contact with her, her body disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared fifteen feet away from the senbon shower, and a log had taken her place.

She appeared hunched over in a state of loss of breath. She stayed that way for a few seconds, thinking that she could hide behind the tree she was currently at right now, but just as she had jumped away from the tree, she felt a stinging sensation in her right calf muscle. She turned her body in mid-air and landed on her back. The stinging sensation had caused her to lose focus, and hence why she had to adjust her body mid-air and fall on her back.

She picked her head up and looked at her calf muscles where she discovered two senbon stuck to her calf muscle. She quickly pulled them out, but by then it was already too late. She was feeling dizzy and also very nauseous. She realised that the senbon were somehow poisoned.

Then her troubles became worse when the five ninja that were chasing her appeared a second later in front of her downed form. The girl did not need to see the other four masked ninja's faces to know that they were all smiling victoriously just like the one without a mask. That was when she truly started to panic. Fear gripped her heart and she felt like she was about to meet the Shinigami.

She subconsciously started crawling backwards, away from her pursuers, using her elbow. She continued to do this while they stood still and watched her with amused expressions on their faces. She wondered for a second what it was they found amusing until she hit something with her back. She did not need to turn around to realise that it was a tree. She now realised what they found to be so amusing. They knew it, and she knew it as well…she was cornered.

"Well, well, well…finally run outta tricks, huh, Girlie." Aoi said.

The pink haired girl chose to say nothing.

"Nothing smart to say? No matter, our mission is to capture you, and we have succeeded in that endeavour. The poison in the senbon I launched at you is quiet deadly, but thanks to the fact that I have the cure, you won't die…just yet." Aoi said to the girl rather smugly as he took out a small vial from his pouch that had a purple liquid in it.

The girl guessed that that might be the cure…and she was not alone in that department.

Another figure was hidden deep within a small bush. He had been following these men who were chasing this girl down. It would suffice to say that the figure in question did not like what he had seen. No one bit.

While Aoi was busy dangling the bottle in front of the pink haired girl, two black balls suddenly rolled out from underneath their feet, but before they could even begin to fathom what the heck these balls were, they exploded, releasing black smoke upon everyone, obscuring their vision. Aoi and his men choked on it for a few seconds before one of them suddenly called out, "Fuuton: Repuushou (Wind Style: Gale Palm)!"

It only took a second for the gale force winds to blow away every smoke particle. When everything had cleared up enough for Aoi and his men to see, they saw that the girl was gone, and not only was she gone but so was the vial that contained the cure for Aoi's poison.

"What, what happened?" asked one of the men.

"I don't know." replied another man.

"It doesn't matter what happened." Aoi shouted at them, "Just find the girl, because she is all that matters." His men scattered across the forest, all of them looking to find where the girl went to, and to kill whoever took her.

**Another part of the forest**

Currently running through the forest towards his cottage was Naruto. He was running at very high speeds despite carrying a dying person on his back. You could say that that was why he was running so fast. The pink haired girl was currently lolling her head; the drowsiness had become worse for her.

"C'mon, stay awake, damn it." Naruto cursed through gritted teeth.

The girl seemed to comply with that request/command as she fought to keep her eyes open. She may be half unconscious, but the half that was awake was currently thanking the heavens for whoever the heck this guy was. She did not know why, but she just felt that she could trust him for some strange reason.

"What is your name?" he asked.

The girl took a short while to answer the question, due to the poison in her bloodstream, but she did manage to say, "Haruno…Sakura."

"Well Sakura-san, I'm Naruto. Don't worry; I will make sure that those bad men stay away from you."

"Thanks." was all she managed to say weakly.

Naruto continued to run some more up until he reached the cottage. He knew that he was being followed, his instincts told him so. He entered the cottage and quickly put the girl on the two seater couch. He saw her perspire a lot and decided to give her the antidote then.

He opened the vial and he was forced to crinkle up his nose due to him having a nauseating sensation run through him when he got a whiff of the bottle. He opened the girl's mouth using his free hand and then he poured the purple liquid down her throat. The girl's only visible reaction was to cringe, before she settled down and then she fell off to sleep instantly.

As soon as she fell asleep, Naruto sensed the chakra of the men that were after Sakura converge upon the cottage. Naruto, already had his weapons on him, decided to go out and greet them. He slowly walked out of the lounging area and walked to the front door.

He opened the door and stepped out on to the patio. A second later all five men appeared in front of him, just a few feet away from the patio. Naruto walked slowly towards them with an unreadable expression on his face. He felt no anger, no sadness, no joy, nothing. He simply felt nothing. This was how he always was whenever he was about to enter a battle. His goofy nature went out the door, and in stepped in Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto, child warrior.

He only entered this mind set when in a real battle. He had only done this once before when Jiraiya actually tried to kill him, only for the man to stop midway through the finishing blow. He stated that Naruto needed to get a taste of what true battles were like, and that exercise served as the perfect example.

Naruto initially gained this battle trait when Jiraiya had told him to kill his pet. He had given Naruto a pet rabbit as a birthday present. Naruto kept him for three years, loving and caring for him like real family. But then one day Jiraiya told him to kill it. Stating that he had no choice but to do it because one day he would be faced with a situation where he had to kill to get out of it.

Naruto did eventually kill the rabbit, but he had to shut down his emotions in order to do so, and it is because of that incident that he gained such a unique battle trait…an emotion switch. When he knows that he is about to kill his brain automatically shuts down every emotion of his. Although guilt and hatred did override him for a few weeks after he had killed the rabbit, guilt for doing it, and hatred targeted at Jiraiya for making him do it.

When Naruto finally stepped off the patio and onto the ground one of the men spoke to him, "Are you the one who disturbed us…huh?"

"I believe that question answers itself." Naruto said evenly.

This made the men angry, but just as they were about to say something else Naruto said, "You think you can beat me on my home turf…think again."

And immediately after Naruto said that the group of five heard a small sound that sounded like something being burned. They looked down just in time to realise that they were standing on top of a buried explosive tag.

"Scatter!" Aoi shouted in panic, while also jumping away just in time before the explosive note could detonate. The others also managed to jump away, but the explosion caught them in mid-air, and the force behind it propelled them all in different directions. One of them was flung directly towards Naruto.

Naruto acted according to how Jiraiya had trained him…if you see an opening, take it, and take it he did. One moment the black clad shinobi felt himself being propelled forward by the explosion, and the next second, he heard the sound of a blade unsheathing…and then nothing.

When the smoke had cleared, it revealed a huge crater that was in the middle of the front yard. Naruto was on the side that made it so that his back was facing the house, while his enemies were scattered all around the crater. Naruto watched as they started getting up and he saw the various expressions they had, even with their masks on, when they saw him crouching next to one of their own, with his head a few feet away from his body, with Naruto's chokuto dripping in blood.

While two remained expressionless, Aoi being one of them, one just visibly cringed at seeing his comrade decapitated and another was actually shaking.

"You murderer…you killed my brother!" the masked man shouted.

"So? Have you not killed someone's brother before, just like how I just killed yours? It's a dog eat dog world out there. And guess who's the dog that's gonna do the eating?" Naruto responded to the man's screech.

Before the man could even reply, Naruto was off. He ran at extremely fast speeds for someone his age and was upon the enraged shinobi before he could even blink, having jumped over the entire crater before anyone could even react.

He stood in front of the man with his blade poised to strike, but before he could do so an umbrella, before a hail of shuriken flew at him from the side.

Naruto managed to perform a quick Kawarimi no jutsu, but right as he was about to attack from his "hiding hole" a kick flew out of nowhere and landed squarely on his temple. It sent him crashing down onto the ground for the world to see.

Naruto stood up and dusted himself off, and also picked up his chokuto and sheathed it, while the one who had kicked him jumped down and stood in front of him.

"I'll give you this, Gaki…you are quiet skilled. Maybe within a few years' time you would have surpassed even me. Too bad you won't live that long." The man clad in black said.

"Maybe…maybe not." Naruto said before rushing at the man, but right before he could get to him senbon flew at them both. Naruto managed to duck just in time, the other guy was not so lucky. The reason why he was able to duck in the first place was because of the fact that the umbrella that had rained senbon down upon them had created a shadow from above, thus alerting Naruto to what was happening.

Naruto stood on his feet and watched as the man in front of him convulsed for a few moments due to the poison, before he died.

Naruto turned to look at the perpetrator of the senbon attack. He saw Aoi standing there with a smug look on his face, not caring in the least that he had killed one of his men while trying to kill Naruto.

Naruto stared at the remaining men with an even expression on his face. The men stared back at him. It was three supposedly seasoned shinobi against a supposed rookie shinobi. The odds were with the supposedly seasoned shinobi; well at least that was what they believed.

"Time to die, gaki." Aoi said, before he launched a hail of shuriken at Naruto.

Naruto through years of intense training under Jiraiya knew how to act accordingly to something like this. The shuriken were an obvious distraction…Jiraiya had taught him to turn an opponent's weapon into yours, even if it is one such as a small hail of shuriken meant for distraction.

Naruto ran head on to the shuriken, catching Aoi and his men off guard with the move. But just as it seemed like he was about to be nailed by the shuriken, Naruto ducked underneath them before grabbing two of them and he threw them back at Aoi and his men.

They were about to laugh at what they deemed a pitiful move when Naruto sped through four hand seals and said, "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

In an instant, the one shuriken became fifty. Aoi acted accordingly and substituted with a log, while one of Aoi's men was hit head on by the barrage of shuriken when his "friend" used him as a human shield.

Before the barrage was nearly over Naruto unsheathed his chokuto and said, "Fuuton: Kaze Tsurugi no Jutsu!"

A super fine blade of wind chakra escaped from his sword and quickly honed in on the two men, one already dead, while one used the other as a shield.

It did not matter though, because in the end the jutsu cut them both like a hot knife through butter. Both men fell to pieces in an instant. Naruto turned around and started walking away from the men. He already did the deed, so there was no need to stick around and celebrate a hollow victory.

He walked up until he was near the edge of a forested area.

"Rokusho Aoi, come out." He said out loud.

Nothing. No sounds came at all. He honed in his senses on the surrounding environment just as Jiraiya had taught him. Jiraiya had taught him a special way to sense people. The basis of this method was to remain perfectly still. He would remain still and calm his breathing to the point where it would not even appear as if he were breathing.

For someone like him, this method of sensing happened to be very tricky because he was just too energetic. Jiraiya had told him to try it when he was in a state of complete calm. Or in his case, a state of complete emotionlessness.

It seemed to work. He could literally feel the energy that was around him coursing through him, just as Jiraiya said. Jiraiya said to never go beyond five seconds using this technique or else he would die.

**(A/N: I took the idea from Senjutsu chakra sensing. I decided to give Naruto a partial sensing ability, hope it makes sense.)**

He locked in on Aoi three seconds into the technique, and then immediately cancelled it. He bit his thumb and then performed one of the two non-elemental jutsu Jiraiya had taught him. Summoning.

He closed his eyes for a second, before he opened them after having forcibly drawn in the fox's chakra to help him with the technique.

"Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu (Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique)!"

At first it seemed like nothing would happen. Even Aoi who was currently lying low thought that. But it soon changed a second later when a shadow fell from the sky, and right before Aoi could do anything he felt as if he was lying underneath a ginormous toad…too bad that was what really happened to him. His entire body had broken bones thanks to the ginormous toad falling on top of him, flattening him instantly.

Rokusho Aoi died underneath the toad, having failed his mission.

Naruto looked at the giant brown toad and nodded at it before the toad nodded back and then disappeared in a huge puff of smoke.

Naruto stood up, huffing a little bit with only a few scratches her and there, but nothing significant or life threatening.

He turned around and walked over to his home. Once it came into sight though he was greeted by the sight of Sakura already on her feet, looking at him with wide eyes.

"A-are you the one who summoned that?" she asked.

"Yeah." Naruto replied, his previous emotionless visage gone in an instant replaced by a small warm smile.

Sakura could not explain why, but that smile made her cheeks warm up a bit

**(A/N: no, this is not a Naru/Saku. She is not in to him, it's just a blush…we all blush at some point in our lives, even to those we don't find attractive) **

"You said your name was Naruto, right?" Sakura asked nervously.

"Yep. And you are Sakura." Naruto replied happily.

The girl nodded her head in acknowledgement before she said, "I never got the chance to say this earlier, but it is nice to meet you, Naruto-san."

"It's nice to meet you, Sakura-san."

**END**

**Three down, a few more to go…I want to get to ten chapters by the end of next week, just before I actually open at school again. **

**Next Chapter: The Hunt For The Dragonball Begins **

**Anyway read, review, you know…the works.**

**I'm out. **


	4. Chapter Four:Hunt for the Dragonballs

Chapter Four: The hunt for the Dragonballs begins

**Haruno Island – Haruno Manor**

The stars shone neatly from above on a cloudless full moon. The waves of the ocean that surrounded the island hit its banks pretty hard, signifying that it was high tide. The water continued to be rougher than it had been before, and then suddenly a bright light shone from underneath it. The light started to rise higher and higher until it pierced through the water and was able to focus on the island.

Soon the light died down to reveal a great metal contraption that looked like a two year old child's fish drawing, except that unlike most fish drawings it had an attachment of sorts to it on its top.

Soon the attachment opened and a man stepped out of the giant mechanical fish. He was soon followed by another man, and the two of them jumped off the mechanical contraption and onto the docks. Both men wore grey, hooded cloaks that revealed nothing about who they were to the world.

The duo started walking away from the machine they had come out off and headed towards the never ending stairs that were in front of them. The great machine that they had ridden in gave a, sort of, loud cry before it submerged back into the water.

"What did you say that thing was?" said the man on the left in a smooth voice, "A subvervene?"

"Submarine." said his travel companion in an annoyed tone.

"It's very efficient…why doesn't Jenin-dono launch it for the public to use as transport since it would be too expensive for any clan in the world?"

"Maintenance would be too costly." The other man replied in a slightly gruff voice.

"I see."

"And it's still a prototype."

The two men walked up to the extremely long stair case and stood still, or at least the one in the gruff voice did, the other one decided to follow the gruff one's lead.

"You know, for a guy who is said to be the world's best inventor slash scientist, you would think Jenin-dono would know how to combat a flight of stairs." said the smooth voiced male nonchalantly.

The other man hissed at him menacingly and rose a little bit of killing intent on his, current, travelling companion and said, "Do not insult Jenin-sama's intelligence!"

The other man was not fazed by the killing intent being thrown at him and just shrugged it off as if it were nothing, but he did say, "Sorry."

The other man just grunted at him before he went through a string of hand seals before he placed a hand on the stairs. A thin, vertical line formed on the first ten steps. The line soon parted, opening up like two sliding doors, and it got bigger and bigger up until it finally stopped a few seconds later.

"This is Jenin-sama's response to your _'stair case problem'_." The gruff voiced one said, with a hint of pride in his voice, to the other man that had wide eyes as he stared at one of Jenin's inventions in disbelief.

"What is it called?" he asked in an awed voice.

"It's called an elevator." The gruff one said as he started walking towards the elevator up until he had entered it. The other man soon entered as well, the gruff voiced man clicked on a red button and the elevator was up and running, transporting them to the top of the island, something that would have taken hours was reduced to seconds.

As far as the smooth voiced man was concerned, Jenin Haruno was a certified genius. Now he had proved it to him once again.

The elevator stopped once it had reached its destination. The doors slid open and they allowed the two men to get out. The two men started walking towards the biggest house that either of them had ever seen. The house was surrounded by 24 hour security, a chakra detection system and dogs amongst many other things.

They stopped in front of a man that was standing guard outside a gigantic golden gate that had two dragon heads on the doors. The two men presented their identification cards to the security guard that was standing guard outside the gates. The guard looked more like a trained ninja than an actual guard.

The man looked at their identification cards before he nodded his head and allowed the men to enter the compound. The giant golden gates opened in a slow, yet majestic manner to allow the two men passage in to the compound.

The smooth talker looked around the compound and saw that they were many trained shinobi that guarded the compound. His shinobi training also allowed him to detect a few that hid in the shadows, some were following them both.

The two men continued on their journey up until they were in front of the gigantic white walled, blue windowed castle/fortress. The two men were greeted by a man who stood at the front door of the house. The man simply held out his hand as if expecting the two men to give him something. The first man, the one with the gruff voice took of his cloak to reveal a man dressed in brown pants that had wrappings around his ankles, a black long-sleeved shirt and a brown flak jacket with a turban on his head that had a piece of cloth that covered half his face.

An attire that those of Kaze no Kuni would normally wear.

When the other man removed his cloak after following the turban wearing man's example it revealed that he wore navy blue pants that also had white wrappings around his ankles, along with a matching long-sleeved muscle hugger and a simple headband that was slanted in a way that it covered his left eye, and he also wore a face mask that was attached to his shirt. The most defining feature on him though, was the silver grey gravity defying hair that he had on him…must be a hair gel trick or something.

Once both men had lost their cloaks, they entered the house, with the turban wearing man leading the way. Upon entering the house, the silver grey haired man just whistled out loud, clearly impressed by what he saw. The house was beyond regal, offering a defining look at it that would make some palaces look like common houses, that was how the man felt…and that was just after having seen the lounge that they quickly passed through, even though he did not take in much, but from what he had seen, he was really impressed.

The two men continued into the next room, which just so happened to be a dining hall. Inside the illustrious looking hall was a couple who were sitting down at opposite ends of a long table, and they were eating dinner. The man had red-ish pink-ish hair that was shaped in a star fish like manner and he had sideburns that were connected to his moustache. He wore a formal green kimono top with black pants and matching sandals.

His wife had bright blonde hair that was neatly slung backwards and green eyes. She wore a white dress with red roses on it. The woman was beautiful, despite her mature age.

"Jenin-sama," said the turban wearing man, "I have brought with me the man you requested."

"Thank you, Baki…I will take it from here." said Jenin standing up from his table, "Excuse me darling, I have some business to attend to."

"That's alright." The woman said politely to her husband.

The man walked up to the silver head man and held his hand out his hand as if wanting a handshake and said, "I'm Jenin Haruno."

"Hatake Kakashi." The silver haired man said as he shook Jenin's hand, slightly surprised by the man's politeness. He expected someone who was pompous after having seen how lavish the man's house looked.

"I know who you are, Hatake-san, that's why I hired you…now walk with me." Jenin said as he let go of Kakashi's hand and proceeded to leave the dining hall and they entered a long corridor, with Jenin leading the way, while Kakashi just followed.

Kakashi looked at Jenin and it got him to think about who exactly Jenin Haruno was.

Jenin Haruno was said to own the biggest houses in the entire world, it even outstripped royal palaces like the Fire Daimyo's palace and the Lightning Daimyo's palace. And those two palaces were seen as the biggest and best.

The Haruno family was the richest family in the world…in fact the family was said to be richer than even ten clans put together. They were beyond wealthy, and ask anyone who knew a thing or two about the world and they would tell you that this family is the richest, guaranteed.

But how did they become so rich and so well known?

The family was comprised of three members; Haruno Jenin was the head of the family. His wife's name was Isamo and his daughter's name was Sakura. Not much is known about the family as everything they do is behind closed doors, but they are the leading pioneers in the current age of inventions.

Haruno Jenin was said to have been beyond intelligent even from a young age. His intelligence set him apart from the rest of the civilians he grew up with, and as a result he was a loner. But that was okay for him since it allowed him to express himself more in his work than to waste precious time talking to friends about useless things.

The world is ever evolving, ever changing, and it needs people to constantly watch and monitor its growth, and sometimes, to help the world grow by giving it a little nudge. That was how Jenin saw the world from a young age, and he knew that he would be one of those that can push it into the right direction.

While growing up he was a loner, but he did not let it affect him, and as a result he finished school years before he was supposed to. When he left on a self-imposed mission to study the world and find out all he could about it, that was when he met a historian that would change his life forever.

Jenin met Isamo during one of his travels trying to unravel the secrets of the world, and together the two of them would change things forever. They travelled together, worked together, and discovered things together. The world's foremost scientist teaming up with the world's foremost historian was bound to cause something.

That something happened around the time they were in their early twenties. They used the knowledge they had of the world, its history and the way forward, to create what would be a sensation. For the first time ever, civilians that were not of royal blood were just as powerful, if not, more powerful than any shinobi clan.

In the beginning it caused a lot of strife as many clans wanted the family dead due to the fact that Haruno Corporation had disturbed the power balance in the world. One of the main frontiers in this anti-Haruno campaign was the Uchiha. They, along with the Senju wanted the Haruno's gone. The world, as far as they saw it, could not have a civilian family that held more power than an entire clan of shinobi.

Too bad for the two clans though, because of their dislike for change (since they could not accept a non-royal super power) the Haruno family became what they were today. The Uchiha and Senju sent many assassins to try and eliminate the family, but they were always stopped thanks to Jenin's ingenuity.

The man was the world's foremost scientist for a reason, and it soon showed when he invented a barrier that did not require chakra to sustain itself, but electricity. Up till that point something of that nature was considered impossible. The barrier was strong, but not strong enough to keep out shinobi that were from the Senju and Uchiha clans amongst others.

Jenin had foreseen that so he had secretly hired the Yuki clan on a lifetime contract so that they could protect him and his wife. The Yuki clan had originally said no since they believed it was suicide, but once the clan saw Jenin's next invention, they eagerly accepted.

Chakra Armour.

That was what Jenin had invented next. With chakra armour, it would be possible for members of the Yuki clan to be able to protect the Haruno's. Their opponents would not be able to touch them for as long as they had the chakra armour on them. All of their opponent's ninjutsu attacks or anything containing chakra for that matter would simply be absorbed, plain and simple.

These two things seemed to be enough, but just in case they weren't, Jenin had many contingencies put in place. Secret inventions that he kept to himself so on and so forth. It was thanks to the Uchiha and Senju trying to get rid of Jenin and his wife that the world was able to bear witness to Jenin's inventions, and when the world saw how effective they were against members of the Senju clan, they wanted them as well. Too bad the chakra armour was only given to the Yuki clan. It was not for sale.

The Haruno Corp. made many inventions that changed the world in some form or the other. The Haruno family was so rich that they had to end up buying their own island, just so they could be at peace and not have assassins and all types of people coming to disturb them, seeking help or wanting employment.

"Alright, Hatake-san, let's get down to business." Jenin's voice broke Kakashi out of his thoughts. Kakashi had not realised it but he and Jenin were now situated in what Kakashi could only guess was the man's office.

Jenin sat down on one of the two chairs available, while Kakashi chose the other.

"What did you want from me, Jenin-dono?" Kakashi asked, cutting right to the chase.

"The mission I am about to hand out to you should be handled with the utmost care, failure to do so will result in the immediate termination of your assignment. Am I understood?"

"Hai…although I would like to understand what a man like you needs so badly that you paid for an equivalent of three S-rank missions?"

"What I need, Hatake-san is personal. As I am sure you already know; I have more money on me than I know what to do with…the mission's pay was just my way of stressing to you about how important it is that you fulfil it."

"And again I ask…what is it that you want me to get for you."

Jenin said nothing for a second or two before he simply took out a picture of a girl with pink hair and green eyes.

"Is this…?" Kakashi asked, already having an inkling feeling about who the girl is.

"My daughter, yes, that is her. Her name is Sakura." Jenin said a bit morbidly.

"Lemme guess, you want me to find her for you?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes."

"Okay, what happened to her? Was it a kidnapping or something?"

"It wasn't a kidnapping…I don't know why my daughter did what she did, but she left the island a week or two ago. I just want you to find her and bring her back home in one piece, and if she refuses to come home with you, I give you full reign to use any means you deem fit to get her back."

Kakashi looked at the smiling girl in the picture before he looked up to meet Jenin's eyes with his solitary visible eye, and said two words, "I accept."

**Deep within Hi no Kuni**

Two children were currently eating out on the front patio of a cabin located in a dense clearing, under the starry sky. The two children, both of twelve years of age, silently ate their food as the sound of crickets resonated throughout the clearing. These two kids were Naruto and Sakura. The two of them had been getting to know one another throughout the day, and while they just knew basic things about each other, neither would act like the other was alien.

It had been a few hours since Naruto had taken on, and defeated, those five shinobi from the Shiroi Hebi clan, although they were strong, they had underestimated Naruto, and Naruto used that to his advantage.

Sakura was awed by the display of Naruto's skills. He was strong, far stronger than she was. Back at home on the island; her father had hired a few shinobi to teach her a thing or two so that she knew how to defend herself. They found out that Sakura was mainly a genjutsu specialist, but she could also have a talent as an Iryo ninja, but they never got to that part.

Naruto was truly strong as far as she was concerned, with his ability to summon a gigantic toad, it just solidified her point. ALL she had in her jutsu arsenal were the basic three jutsu every shinobi had to learn, along with two genjutsu and a bit of Taijutsu.

While Sakura continued to think about the difference in strength between her and Naruto, Naruto suddenly heard a small sound that sounded like a beep, but it was at a very quick pace.

"Um, Sakura-san?" Naruto said, trying to get her attention.

Nothing.

"Sakura-san!" he said loudly, snapping her out of her stupor.

"What?!" she shot out in a small burst of anger at having been disturbed from her thoughts.

"Sorry, sorry!" said Naruto quickly while flailing his arms in front of himself in a placating manner.

Sakura's expression softened when she saw that it was the boy that had saved her life that had called her name.

"What is it, Naruto-san?" she asked.

"I, eh, I heard a sound that was kinda strange, so I was wondering if you could hear it as well?" Naruto said.

Sakura concentrated on her hearing senses, and the effect was instantaneous. She went from a scrunched up facial expression to an elated facial expression. She jumped up and made a mad dash inside the house, all the while she spotted a grin over her face.

"Sakura-san, wait up!" Naruto shouted, running after the girl.

When Naruto entered the house he found that the sound was louder, but not by much. He saw Sakura rummaging through her bag as she searched for something, probably whatever was causing this noise.

She stopped moving for a second, before she cried out in triumph, "Aha!"

Naruto was confused as to what the heck was going on; he just hoped that Sakura knew, so that she could explain it to him.

"Um, Sakura-san…what's going on?"

"Naruto-san, do you not know what this is?" Sakura said excitedly, revealing a round, white device that had a small knob at the top, "Forget it, you wouldn't know at all. No one outside my father's lab does."

"Huh?" was Naruto's intelligent reply.

Sakura saw Naruto's confusion so she decided to explain what the device was, "This, Naruto-san, is what I like to call a Dragon Radar."

"Dragon Radar?" Naruto repeated.

"Yeah, basically this allows me to find these special balls that I am searching for." Sakura said.

"So it's basically a compass."

"No, you idiot, it's not. This device is specially tuned in to nine special balls that hold great power within them!" Sakura screeched.

Naruto visibly flinched when Sakura mentioned the words_, nine special balls that hold great power_, something Sakura did not miss.

Sakura looked at Naruto with an inquisitive eye that made Naruto squirm a bit.

"You know what I am talking about, don't you, Naruto-san." Sakura said calmly.

Naruto started sweating a bit as Sakura stared at him with a questioning gaze.

"Um, um, n-no, I, err, I don't know what you are talking about." Naruto tried to lie, the operative term being _tried_.

"Na-ru-to…" Sakura said slowly, as she inched closer to the blonde boy, while said boy just backed up slowly as well.

"I may not have known you for more than a few hours, but I can already tell that you aren't a good liar." Sakura said coldly.

Naruto knew whenever the jig was up, it was up. It wasn't his fault that he could not lie to save his life. He only interacted with two people throughout his life before today.

Naruto stopped moving back, and just let his shoulders slump as he sighed out loud, before he said, "Come with me."

Naruto then proceeded to head into the passage, with Sakura slowly following from behind. While they moved towards wherever Naruto wanted to take her to, the girl took a glance at the Dragon Radar and she saw a small, stationery yellow circle on green screen of the radar, while there was also a small yellow triangle that was headed towards the small ball.

The triangle, as far as Sakura knew, was her, while the small circle represented the great ball of power that she had been searching for. On the edges of the screen, there were other small circles, but they were flashing instead of being solid like the one that was close by.

Naruto lead them both to a room that was sealed off with a giant shiki on it.

"What is that?" Sakura said, not knowing a thing about seals, except the basics of sealing things into scrolls.

"This," Naruto said, "is a Fuuinjutsu shiki."

"I know what that is, baka!" Sakura shouted, "What I meant was what type of seal is it?"

"It's a security seal…don't ask me how it's made. All I know is that it needs a special chakra signature in order for it to unlock." Naruto replied.

"And what type of chakra is that?"

"Mine."

Naruto then proceeded to place a hand on the door and channel some chakra into it. The shiki that was written on the door glowed brightly for a second; before there was a resonating 'click' that was heard by both tweens, signalling the opening of the door.

Naruto pushed the door aside and entered the room, with Sakura right behind him. Naruto then took a box of matches that were on a small dressing table and used the matches to light up candle that was directly next to it.

The lighting within the room gradually improved, thus allowing both teens to look around it a bit. The room was old, judging from the cobwebs that were all over the show. It only had a small table and nothing else. This made Sakura look on confused. According to the Dragon Radar, the mystical ball was somewhere in this room, and yet there was nothing at all.

"What's going on here, Naruto-san?" Sakura said, getting a bit sceptical over the fact that this might be a trap.

As if he could sense her worry, Naruto just smiled softly and said, "this is where the ball you are searching for is."

Sakura looked confused by Naruto's statement. How can the ball be in this room, but the room was empty.

While Sakura thought about that, Naruto just moved to the centre of the room before he said, "Sealing things in a scroll…"

"Huh?" Sakura replied, honestly confused now.

"Sealing things into a scroll…the principle behind this is simply creating a small pocket dimension that allows you to fill it up with the scrolls contents."

Sakura looked at Naruto for a bit, before she said, "Why are you explaining the theory behind sealing to me?"

Naruto said nothing at first as he just knelt down, but after doing that he said, "People like to think inside the box, in their comfort zones…what I like to do is innovate, think outside the box."

"Oookaaay, but what does this have to do with…"

"In order for you to understand what I am about to do, you need to listen to what I am gonna say. Now, as I had said before you interrupted me, I like to think outside the box. I like it because it allows me to take old methods and find a new use for them. Like with the sealing scroll for example. What would happen if you used the same Fuuinjutsu shiki you use for a sealing scroll, but on the floor?"

Sakura, being the smart girl that she was, immediately understood what Naruto meant, with her eyes being the only indication that she understood as they went wide from shock of having never thought of this.

Naruto did not say anything; all he did was channel some chakra into his hand before he slammed his palm down onto the floor board. A second later, black markings appeared on the floor, markings that Sakura remembered seeing in sealing scrolls, but at the centre of the markings was the kanji for 'Dragonball'.

A small puff of smoke later, the room now had a new addition, one that was in the form of a golden crystal ball that had nine red stars that were uniquely formed within it. The ball shone brightly in the rather dark room. It looked magical.

"The nine star Dragonball." Sakura said in awe. She went up to Naruto in hopes of touching the ball, but just as she was about to touch it, Naruto withdrew it from her close fingers.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked, a bit angry over the fact that the boy in front of her denied her the right to touch the one thing she nearly died for.

"You're not gonna touch the ball…not until you tell me how you know about it." Naruto said coldly.

Sakura was a bit taken aback by Naruto's cold voice but she did manage to say, "What do you mean?"

"The legend about the Dragonballs is something so secretive that it is only known to a few clan heads from clans around the world and by their elders, and even then, not all clan heads know about them. It is not told to others that are below the clan head position, not even his or her advisors know about it. So how did you, some that I doubt is from a clan, let alone not a clan head or clan elder, know about this?" Naruto said to Sakura.

Sakura did not say anything at first, opting to keep quiet, but after a minute or so of silence she finally spoke, "My mother is the world's greatest historian. She knows so many things about ancient history that not even some of the current clan heads know. She had studied the history of the Rikudō Sennin in depth, and it was only by pure chance that she came upon the legend of the Dragonballs. She used to tell me about it, but as a bed time story. One day I discovered that it wasn't such a bed time story."

"And when was that?" Naruto asked.

"It was the day I found the two star Dragonball in my mother's private historical artefacts collection." Sakura replied.

"Two star Dragonball?" Naruto asked, clearly surprised.

"Yes, it is in my bag." Sakura replied.

"If what you say is true, then I am sure you know what will happen if you gather all nine balls, right?" Naruto asked

"Yes…when all nine balls have been gathered together, they have the power to grant the user any wish they desire."

"And then that begs the question…what do you want to wish for?"

"What I want does not concern you." Sakura replied stubbornly, crossing her arms for good measure.

"Very well…just know that you will not get to fulfil your wish."

"Why not?"

"Because I am not handing over my Dragonball to you."

"Why the hell not?" Sakura asked, feeling her anger rising at being denied something she desired. It seemed that being rich made her kind of spoilt.

"Because it is mine and mine alone, it does not concern you…" Naruto said with finality as he walked past Sakura and walked out of the room, leaving the girl behind.

As Naruto walked down the corridor, he remembered the day he had received the magical ball.

It was not a pleasant experience, since it allowed him to meet his tenant for the first time ever.

Seeing the great bijuu made his skin crawl. Even thinking about the creature of mass destruction made his skin crawl.

Naruto eventually entered the living room, and then proceeded to a small picture of him and Jiraiya, one of the few pictures he and the perverted old man had ever taken together. The picture depicted him smiling with a popsicle in his mouth while Jiraiya just had a big grin on his face and had his right hand placed on his shoulder.

Seeing the picture made Naruto think about his current predicament, one he had not bothered to even ponder up until now. With Jiraiya gone for so long, nearing the six month mark, Naruto would have to leave the cabin for the first time ever and go look for the man.

But the six month mark thing was not the only reason why he had to go and look for Jiraiya. Jiraiya had also told him that on the off chance that someone discovered the cabin, no matter who they were, Naruto had to pack and leave. He had to destroy everything there that he would not be carrying with him once he left.

"Who's he?" A soft voice said behind Naruto. Naruto, surprised, turned around quickly to find Sakura staring at him while he stared at his picture with Jiraiya.

"He is my grandpa."

"Really? Where is he?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know. What I do know is that I need to go and look for him." Naruto replied.

"Why?"

"What do you mean 'why'…you know what, you wouldn't understand!" Naruto shouted out loud.

Naruto then saw that Sakura was looking down onto the ground with a saddened expression.

"What's wrong, Sakura-san?" Naruto asked, now concerned that maybe it was his shouting that had made her like that.

"It…it's just that my father died trying to get this ball for my mother." Sakura said quietly.

"What?" Naruto said in confusion, only realising now that Sakura held her own Dragonball. And just as she had said, it had two stars.

"My father…he was the one who got the Dragonball for my mother. They were both historians; my father and a small band of men went in search of the Dragonballs, but they came upon some unexpected trouble."

"What trouble?" Naruto asked.

"The ball, apparently, was guarded by a gigantic flaming monster cat that killed many of the men that went on the journey. My father was the only one to make it out alive, and with the Dragonball in his clutches. He managed to give it to my mother before the injuries he had sustained from the battle became too much for him, and he succumbed to them." Sakura finished her story with a tear rolling down her face.

Naruto just looked down onto the ground with a saddened expression on his face. He felt guilty for thinking that the girl's reasons for wanting the balls were shallow ones. But if from what he derived from the story was true, then what Sakura wanted was…

"You want to use the balls so you can wish your father back to life, don't you?" Naruto said softly.

"Yes." was all Sakura said.

Naruto thought about what to do for a few seconds, before he made up his mind. He simply walked up to Sakura and held out the hand that contained the nine star Dragonball.

"W-what are you…?" Sakura asked, confusion written all over her face.

"What does it look like I am doing; I'm giving you my Dragonball."

"Why, I thought…"

"I had a change of heart. Now are you gonna take it or not?"

Sakura looked at the ball in the boy's hand for a second or two, before she reached out and took it.

"Thank you, Naruto-san."

"No problem, Sakura-san. Although you don't need to call me 'san' anymore since I consider you a friend. So just call me Naruto."

Sakura smiled a warm smile before she said, "Only if you do the same, Naruto."

"Alright, Sakura."

Sakura looked at the ball with a warm expression on the outside, but on the inside she was jumping for joy. She had done it, her plan worked. It seems that she was right about this Naruto boy. While he was a good shinobi, he was bad at human interactions, and thus, he could not resist a sob story from a girl. She guessed that whoever taught him the shinobi arts neglected to teach him how to resist a woman's charm.

"Hey Sakura, how about I accompany you on your journey." said Naruto, breaking the girl out of her stupor.

"What? Why?" Sakura asked, genuinely surprised.

"Well, I don't really know the outside world, and thus it would be beneficial for me to go with you. Besides, with me out there with you, I would be able to watch your back while I searched for my gramps." Naruto said excitedly.

Sakura was honestly shocked by the turn of events. While she had predicted that she could swindle the Dragonball from him, she did not expect him to offer his services to her to help her search for the other balls, although he only did it since it would benefit him as well. Honestly, this boy was too nice. It almost made her feel bad for lying to him about her old man being dead just to swindle a Dragonball away from him. The operative term being _almost_.

"Alright." Sakura said to the boy, making him jump up and down some more with elation.

Naruto then proceeded to his bedroom, but not before he shouted, "Rest up Sakura, we'll leave tomorrow morning."

Sakura just stared at the boy before she just shook her head in amusement. She had to prepare for the journey they would undertake tomorrow.

The night flew by very quickly, and at exactly seven o'clock in the morning, Sakura and Naruto stood in front of the cabin, looking at it.

"Do you really have to do this?" Sakura asked Naruto.

Naruto looked at her and said, "I have to…I need to erase all evidence of me being here."

"I still don't get why, though."

"You won't…anyway…" Naruto turned and looked at the house before he held up the ram seal, and barely two seconds later the cabin exploded, sending wooden shards all over the show, with the two tweens a safe distance away.

Naruto was decked out in a pair of orange pants, black t-shirt with a red swirl on the front, along with an orange and black hooded jacket (just imagine the thirteen year old version of him wearing the clothes he wore in shippuuden, except the jacket has a black hood). On his back were his trusted weapons, and on his wrists, underneath the jacket, were two seals, one stored a bag that contained all of the valuable information Jiraiya had placed in the library, and the other just contained a bag that had his essentials.

"You ready to depart, Sakura?"

"Hai."

The two teens turned away from the spot where the cottage once stood proud and tall, and proceeded to vacate the clearing. They had no idea of the adventure that awaited them.

The hunt for the Dragonballs had officially begun.

**END**

**Alright, that's it for this chapter…c'mon guys, please review, it makes me happy. **

**Someone asked what rank Naruto is…he's C-rank…low to mid-level chunin (but that will soon change).**


	5. Chapter Five: Travelling Winds

**A/N:**

**First off I want to start by saying that there's someone that keeps irritating the fuck out of me with his Shizuka-hating. If you don't like her, fine. It won't change the fact that this is my story, not ours or yours. If you don't have anything credible to say SHUT THE FUCK UP you annoying turd. **

**Sorry about that but I had to clear the air, so to speak. **

**Secondly, there's a reviewer that wants to know what roles some of the characters will take. I want you to know that I have taken your role choice into consideration dude and I agree with you one hundred percent, but some roles might change depending on what I want to achieve with this story. **

**Any who, let's get back to the story… **

Chapter Five: Travelling Winds

Naruto and Sakura had been travelling together for the last two weeks. They had to be careful about where they went and who they spoke to because of their respective "wanted" heads. Naruto was considered as someone still in hiding by the shinobi world, which is good for him, but Sakura was wanted by the Shiroi Hebi clan, probably to ransom her back to her father, although Naruto did not know that since he believed that Sakura's father was dead.

The duo was currently travelling through a small town just close to the border between Kaze no Kuni and Hi no Kuni. They had to be careful of running into the shinobi clans of Hi no Kuni whilst they looked to exit the country.

During the beginning of the journey, Naruto had been worried about where they would sleep and how they would be able to get money so they could replenish their supplies, but apparently there was no need for him to worry because of the fact that he had Sakura with him, and the girl had apparently brought a _lot_ of money with her.

When Naruto asked her about where she got the money from, she replied that she was using the inheritance that her father had left for her before he died…which was partially true.

Naruto currently walked through the town his bag slung over his shoulder. He decided to seal his chokuto and his staff away in the seal that was on his right wrist, and instead decided to carry the bag that was previously in the seals. Sakura was next to him, and she also had a bag on her back. The two of them were a few miles away from the border, with Kaze no Kuni being their destination because according to the Dragon Radar that was where the closest Dragonball was.

She and Naruto had been getting to know each other well during their time together, and the more time she spent with him, the more the guilt about lying to him ate at her internally. Naruto was a kind hearted person that was easy to please, although he did have a short attention span.

While Sakura thought about this and more she never realised that she was on a direct path with someone that was currently carrying a stack of small boxes.

BAM!

Sakura hit the man, and they both fell down hard, hitting the ground with their respective buttocks'.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry, sir!" Sakura said, picking herself up from the ground and helping the old man up.

Naruto had to stifle a laugh at seeing Sakura fall on her butt, and he instead decided to pick up the boxes that the old man had dropped.

"Here you go old man." Naruto said, handing the boxes over to the old man that was now standing on his feet, with Sakura profusely apologising to him.

"It's okay, girlie." The old man said.

He then took the boxes from Naruto, but Naruto took some back and said, "Let me help you get those to wherever you are going."

"Geez, thanks kid." The old man replied with a smile on his face and had his eyes closed.

The old man led them away to a small establishment that he had.

"The name's Ichiraku Teuchi." The old man said.

"I'm Naruto." The blonde applied, leaving out his surname since it would not do good for people to know he was out of hibernation.

"I'm Sakura."

"Nice to meet two, nice young kids like yourselves." Teuchi said to them.

They walked for a few minutes up until they reached a white stand that had the words 'Ichiraku Ramen' on the banner. They entered through the back and dropped the boxes at a corner.

Just as Naruto and Sakura were about to leave, Teuchi called out to them and said, "Hey! Why don't you grab a bite to eat…first one is on the house!"

Sakura was about kindly decline, but her ramen loving compatriot quickly said, "Okay."

While Sakura remained flabbergasted at the thought of eating ramen, something she had never eaten before, Naruto had no such problems, and he quickly retreated back into the establishment and then he proceeded to devour the Ramen that was served by Teuchi's daughter.

Sakura just shook her head and resigned herself to her fate.

**Kaze no Kuni – Two days later**

Naruto and Sakura were currently trekking through the harshest desert on the elemental continent, the desert of Kaze no Kuni. This place is known as the Free-for-All country for a reason. A little over fifty years ago, the previous ruler of the country had bled the countries resources dry because of his greed, and as such his greed was eventually his downfall because the people revolted against him, and in the end the country became leaderless thanks to the fact that someone killed the man.

It was a free for all scramble for power, as shinobi and civilians alike tried to seize whatever amount of power they could, and it was thanks to this that three families emerged as the top dogs.

These houses were the houses that no one in the country could fight, so instead they just let them be, and as such, they became powerful, and in a way they became the leaders of Kaze no Kuni. Unlike the other countries, Kaze no Kuni had no clans, despite having unique and powerful kekkei genkai wielding shinobi, it was more of a mutation that occurred once in a generation.

The three houses that lead the country were:

The house of Akai (Red)

The house of Batsume

The house of Sabaku

These three houses were the ones that essentially ran the country. They each shared a third of the country, each keeping to their own territory. Of course there was the occasional double-crossing and backstabbing that lead to a minor civil war between the three, but those stopped nearly three decades ago.

"It's so fucking hot!" Naruto whined as he continued to trek through the harshest deserts of the Elemental continent.

"Your whining is making it hotter, dumbass." Sakura chided, although she had to agree with Naruto over the fact that he was right. Still, it kind of pissed her off that he cut her musings short.

Naruto and Sakura continued walking in Kaze no Kuni's harsh deserts for another hour, stopping only to take a five-to-ten minute break, where they would drink their water before moving on.

Eventually the duo came upon a settlement in the distance. It was a small settlement, made up of a small group of houses and lodgings that were barely more than three hundred acres. All in all it was perfect for them since they did not want to draw attention to themselves, so going into larger settlements was pretty much out of the question.

Naruto and Sakura came upon the entrance to the small village. There was a sign that was made out of wood that read, "Welcome to Sabaku Villa".

"Welcome to Sabaku Villa?" Naruto read out loud in confusion.

"Yes." an elderly voice answered the question.

The duo turned to their right and saw that there was an old woman there. Apparently she was the one that had spoken to them.

"I know it does not look like a Villa, but trust me when I say that it is…this place is for people like you." The old woman said.

"People like us?" Naruto asked sceptically.

"Yes…travellers." The old woman replied with a small smile gracing her features.

"Travellers?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, travellers…that is what you are, is it not?" the woman asked.

"Yes…I mean, yes." Sakura replied.

"Then this place id for you…it may be small, but it is for those that seek assistance during their travels." The elder woman said, "Here, let me show you around." She offered with a raised hand that was pointing towards the villa.

Naruto and Sakura just nodded, and decided to follow after the old woman as she led them into the village.

"This place is a part of the territory owned by the Sabaku family…it was built by the first Sabaku leader nearly forty years ago." The elder woman said.

"Sabaku what?" Naruto asked feeling confused.

"You two aren't from around here, are you?" the elder woman asked.

Sakura mentally cursed, the last thing that they needed was for someone to recognise that they were not from around here. She felt like smacking Naruto around write now.

"No, we are not." Sakura said.

"It was a rhetorical question, Dear, but that does not matter, what does is that you need to know about the country's political standpoint." The elder woman said.

"Actually, uh…we never got your name, baa-san." Sakura said.

"It's Chiyo." The woman replied.

"Yes, um, Chiyo-baa…I know about your country's political standpoint.

"Do you now?" the woman asked.

"Yes…well not a lot, but I know a thing or two." Sakura replied…hey, being the offspring of two of the world's smartest people allowed you to know certain things, even if Kaze no Kuni's politics were not so secretive.

"Well then tell me, Sakura." Naruto said.

"I think Chiyo-baa would be able to tell it better." Sakura said.

"Certainly dear." Chiyo said in a warm tone.

"The country of Kaze no Kuni is one that has no Daimyo…instead it is ruled by three families. The Akai family, the Batsume family and finally the Sabaku family. These three families have been ruling over our country for over half a decade. The reason for this is because the last single person to rule our country turned out to be a greedy monarch who only thought of himself, and never for his people, and as such he was dethroned. So as to avoid a single power ruling the country, the country was split into three, with each family getting one section of the country." Chiyo explained to them.

"Well Chiyo-baa I already knew that much, so I guess I did know everything then." Sakura said cheerfully as they continued walking at a slow pace.

"Unfortunately dear, that is where you are wrong." Chiyo stated.

"How am I wrong?" Sakura asked a bit heatedly over the fact that she was corrected about something.

"You are wrong because of the fact that you do not know the whole story." Chiyo said, still speaking warmly.

"Then what is the full story then?" Sakura asked.

"Well if you truly must know, then I guess I shall tell you. This is something that only those of this country know, not even the Hi no Kuni daimyo knows about this." Chiyo stated in a serious manner.

"And what is it exactly?" Sakura asked, with her interest getting piqued.

"The country's power is not equally shared." Chiyo stated in a serious tone.

"Huh?" was Sakura's intelligent reply.

"The country's power is not equally shared between the three families. That was a lie that the Sabaku family created just so there would not be another revolt by the people." Chiyo said, still in her serious tone.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, it means that the Sabaku family rule a majority of the country that is bigger than the Batsume's and bigger than the Akai's. After the last Daimyo was overthrown there was a power scramble. The Sabaku family took all of the lucrative lands and left the others to the other two to choose. At first it was not noticeable due to the fact that the portion that the Sabaku's took was smaller than the other two's portion…"

"Wait," Sakura cut in, "Didn't you just say that the Sabaku's portion was bigger?"

"Oh, silly me." Chiyo said with a smile, "I meant it in economic terms. You see, by the time the other two houses realised that they had been practically blindsided out of good land it was too late. In a country that is mainly a desert good land is hard to come by, and as such there has been a secret war going on for the last fifty years over who gets to take whose land."

"Fifty years fighting just for land?" Naruto asked, finally voicing himself for the first time in minutes.

"Yes, fighting for land. In a country like ours land is a precious commodity, so if you have good land, then you best make sure that you keep it." Chiyo stated.

The other two just nodded, before Naruto asked, "So how is the war exactly…how is it fought?"

"It is mainly fought in secret, although lately there have been more and more open fights, pretty soon other countries will know about this, and they will try to use it as a foot hold to gain access into our country."

The two kids just nodded their heads. Wow, it seems as though things were more messed up more than they thought.

"Wait, if the Sabaku family has been in power for over fifty years, then how strong are they, I mean they must have shinobi that are worthy of mentioning in recent history?" Sakura asked.

"Indeed they do possess such shinobi. The first leader of the family was a man of great power…he had a kekkei genkai that is probably the only one that Kaze no Kuni has." Chiyo answered.

"Oh? And what is it?" Sakura asked.

"Jiton." Chiyo said.

"Jiton? What the heck is that?" Naruto asked.

"Jiton is the ability to control anything magnetic…the first leader of the Sabaku family used this ability to create, and control a type of sand that is so deadly that not even the Ichibi no Shukaku stood a chance against it. Iron sand."

Naruto had visibly flinched at the mentioning of the Ichibi no Shukaku. Being a Jinchuriki that grew up under the care of one of the strongest and most well-informed shinobi meant that he ended up knowing what the other eight Bijuu were called, and their last sighting…Shukaku was last seen nearly twenty years ago.

Sakura never noticed Naruto's flinch, although Chiyo did, but she decided not to say anything about it.

"What is the Ichibi no Shukaku?" Sakura asked, clearly having no clue as to what it was.

"Shukaku is something you best hope you never get to see. I have only seen him once in my life, and let me tell you that it was one time too many. Shukaku is an incarnation of sand that is strongest in the desert, hence why he never leaves Kaze no Kuni, unlike the other bijuu, who have been known to travel from one place to the next."

"Other Bijuu?" Sakura asked.

"Yes…that's a topic for another time. All you need to know is that Shukaku has been defeated by two people over the last one hundred years; both have gone to become legendary shinobi. The first was the leader of the Sabaku family, the one who uses Jiton to create Iron sand."

"The other person?" Naruto asked, maybe he could use the info to try and work something out with the fox in his gut. He had only met it once, but it was a conversation he would rather forget.

"The other person was the current ruler of the Sabaku family. He also has the Jiton kekkei genkai, although his allows him to create gold dust instead of iron sand."

"Gold dust? I have heard of such a shinobi from my f-mother." Sakura said, almost letting it slip that she still had an old man.

"Well he was the one who defeated Shukaku almost twenty years ago. Shukaku's sand was ineffective against him." Chiyo said.

"Shukaku's sand?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, Shukaku is strongest in an area with lots of sand because he can manipulate it. By mixing Gold dust into Shukaku's sand, his control over it was taken away, and due to the fact that his body is primarily made of sand…well I don't have to tell you what happens, now do I? Chiyo said in an amused tone.

"Nope…but how do you know so much about the Sabaku family, and the war?" Sakura asked.

"I know all of this because I was once part of the Akai family…although back then it was the Shiroi family. Ever since my son passed away his son…my grandson took over nearly thirty years ago. He has completely changed our family from being a caring family into being a power hungry family. I left a few years into my grandson, Sasori's reign and sought to join the Sabaku family. At first I was not trusted due to the fact that I am from a rival family but I have proven myself to be loyal to the Sabaku family, even going as far as to teach my original family's once secret puppetry teachings to the current Sabaku family head's eldest son." Chiyo said.

"Puppetry?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, but that is something for another time…oh look, we have arrived where I think you shall be staying." Chiyo said, causing the other two to look at a small cabin that was only good to have a one night's sleep in it, and nothing else. It looked old and rundown, all in all, not something Sakura wanted to stay in.

"Um, thank you, Chiyo-baa, but isn't there somewhere else better than this…money truly isn't an issue." Sakura said.

"Oh, I'm sorry dears; I thought you did not have any money on you so I just thought I would give you the pro bono lodgings." Chiyo said with embarrassment evident in her old features.

"Right." said Naruto dragging the sound of the word, using it as a way to emulate the weirdness of the situation.

Chiyo turned and started walking towards a group of better looking cottages that were more or less better for Sakura. They were nowhere near being five stars, but they were better than the shack that looked like it might fall at any moment.

Naruto and Sakura were led by Chiyo to a decent sized cottage, one of similar stature to the one that Naruto lived in before Sakura came around.

They quickly settled themselves into the cottage after Chiyo left them to their own devices…apparently the woman was the one who guarded this villa. Naruto and Sakura quickly unsealed their travelling equipment and sat down after taking a bath. They had a map of the elemental nations in front of them, with Sakura also holding the dragon radar. She turned it on and watched in fascination as it showed that they were closer to the next Dragonball than they originally thought.

"According to my radar, we are only a few hours away from the Dragonball…around five or six hours. We'll sleep it off tonight, and then we will move tomorrow. Sound good?" Sakura asked.

Naruto nodded his head in agreement, it was best to search for the ball when they were fresh.

"I wonder if they have any places that sell ramen around here? Ever since I had Teuchi-sans ramen I haven't been able to get enough of it, ramen I mean." Naruto said.

"I don't know, why don't you take a look around…I think I saw a restaurant or two when we came here." Sakura said as if she was flipping him off.

Naruto just stood up and walked outside. Jiraiya had always told him to never part with his weapons, so he never did. He had them sealed up in his wrists, although his kunai and shuriken pouch was on his lower back.

Naruto walked around the villa. It had a few people out and about doing their own thing, but there was no restaurant around, just houses, or cabins. This made Naruto feel miffed, but he then saw a girl that maybe a year or two older than him and decided to approach her. It was already late in the day, the sun was almost down completely, and lanterns were already lit as the people that were staying here tonight prepared for the night.

"Hey." Naruto said a bit too loudly from behind the girl, prompting the girl to jump and draw the weapon she carried on her back, and swing it at him, but she missed because Naruto just ducked underneath the swing.

"Whoa, whoa easy!" Naruto said whilst raising his hands in a placating manner.

"Who are you and what do you want?" the girl asked, still holding her weapon.

"I'm Naruto…just Naruto. I just wanted to find a restaurant here or someplace where I can eat." Naruto answered.

The girl looked at him long and hard as if she was trying to gauge his character. All of the staring made Naruto feel kind of small under the young woman's gaze. Eventually though the girl relented and said, "You won't find any restaurants or places to eat out around here, it's a place made for travellers…in the middle of the desert."

Naruto looked disappointed by the news, but he said, "Okay…guess I'm stuck with Sakura's cooking." He said the last part more to himself, but the girl still heard him.

"Well, I best be off…" the girl said, placing her weapon back on her back and she turned around and started walking away from Naruto, only for said blonde to stop her when he said, "Hey wait…"

The girl turned around and looked at him with an annoyed expression on her face, not that Naruto saw it, or cared for that matter, "What is it?"

"Well I never got your name." Naruto said.

"That's because you did not ask." The girl replied with that very same annoyed tone.

"Well will you tell me if I asked?" Naruto asked.

"Nope…" the girl replied.

"Then just tell me…I'm not really asking by saying it that way, now am I?" Naruto replied, not realising that he offended the girl.

"Why you little-" the girl never got to finish what she wanted to say because an explosion was heard that made them both go into defensive positions.

"What the heck is that?" Naruto asked in slight panic.

"I don't know smartass. I was here, remember? Maybe if you weren't trying to coax my name out of me I would know!" the girl replied.

Naruto just looked at her with a twitching eyebrow. Spending two weeks travelling with Sakura allowed him to learn a few things. One of those things was that you never try to argue with a woman; no matter how right you are…it's pointless because they never listen. That is why he chose not to reply to this unknown girl's mouth massacre on him and just focused on his surroundings.

Pretty soon they heard voices approaching them; they subconsciously stood back to back from each other.

"Naruto!" a voice that Naruto recognised as Sakura's called out.

"I'm here Sakura!" Naruto screamed back.

"You idiot, are you a shinobi or a dumbass? You know what, never mind…your clothes answer the question for me." The girl said, although not a second later Sakura came running towards their position.

"Naruto, thank Kami." Sakura said a bit breathlessly.

"What's up, Sakura?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know, all I thought you might since you were out here." Sakura stated.

"Well don't hold your breath girl since this idiot was busy trying to flirt with me." The other girl replied.

"What? That's a lie." Naruto stated.

Before the girl could say anything else another explosion rocked the villa.

"Someone's attacking this place." Naruto stated.

"No duh!" the girls said in unison.

Because of the now long gone sun, things were a bit harder to see, and they did not know where the explosions were coming from. A few moments of tense silence followed this before Naruto quickly unsheathed his chokuto and swung it deflecting a lone kunai that came out of the darkness.

"What the?!" the other girl said in astonishment. She did not even hear the kunai being thrown, let alone sense it, and yet this kid was able to do so.

"Come out." Naruto said calmly.

A few seconds passed, with no one coming out of the shadows. Naruto's eyes scanned all around him as he tried to pick on even the simplest sound. The entire village had gone quiet, and then as if by natural order a great noise was heard, but one that came from a long distance away. Naruto followed the sound and he soon saw a large barrage of arrows heading towards the village.

"Oh shit." Naruto thought out loud, "Hide!"

Just as Naruto and Sakura were about to take off they heard the other girl say, "No need."

Naruto turned around to look at her with an incredulous look over the fact that she was already giving up without a fight. When he and Sakura turned around however, they found her pointing at something. Naruto's eyes followed her finger and he saw a sight that he doubted he would ever forget anytime soon.

A giant wall of sand rose from the ground and went straight into the air. The wall was big enough to block every single arrow being directed towards the village. There were a few muffled explosions that occurred inside the sand wall, but it stayed intact, eventually though, the wall was released when it was of no more use

"What the…?" Sakura and Naruto said together.

"Oh those idiots have gone and done it now." The girl said knowingly.

"You know who's responsible for this, don't you?" Sakura asked, pointing at the giant wall of sand.

"Yes…if you wanna find out then c'mon." the girl said before taking off. Naruto and Sakura quickly followed after her.

They ran for a few minutes at fast speeds before they finally reached the spot of what was a massacre really.

There were dozens of men, all of them strewn across the desert sands, and then there was one boy. A boy that had a huge gourd on his back that stood still and just watched as he manipulated the sand to kill his enemies.

Two men came from above and threw exploding notes tied to the end of kunai's at the boy, but said boy just manipulated his sand to stop the notes before they reached him, and then contain the blast, which it did successfully.

Naruto watched as the two men were torn apart by the boy's sand before more men met the same fate. At the end of it all, after nearly an hour of fighting, or at least that is how much fighting Naruto saw, there were over fifty bodies strewn all over the desert sands. All of them were dead.

Naruto was utterly flabbergasted by the display of strength the boy possessed. To kill so many adult shinobi by himself was truly unbelievable.

Naruto watched as the boy turned around and walked straight to them, or at least the girl that was with them.

"Temari," the boy said in a surprisingly deep and slightly emotionless voice, "are you alright?"

"Yes I'm fine, Gaara." Temari said.

"Good…" he said before looking at the duo of Naruto and Sakura, "who are they?"

"The blonde idiot is Naruto-"

"Hey!"

"And pinky there is Sakura, right?" Temari asked looking at Sakura.

"My name is Sakura, but I am not pinky!" Sakura said heatedly.

"Whatever." was Temari's reply.

Gaara just looked at Naruto and Sakura before he turned and looked at Temari and said, "We need to hurry so that we can rendezvous with Kankuro and father."

Naruto looked at the guy in front of him and said, "What? What about the dudes who attacked the villa."

"It was an attack by the Batsume family. They are all dead." Gaara responded before he turned and walked away, with Temari following suit. When Gaara went past Naruto, Naruto was able to pick up the slight unease in Gaara's breathing…seems like this Gaara guy was not as immune to being weary as he made himself out to be.

Sakura on the other hand was focussing more on a slightly persistent sound that was emanating out of nowhere. The sound had started off small but it kept on rising up until everybody else could hear it as well.

"What is that persistent and very annoying sound?" Gaara asked.

Sakura looked around herself before she noticed that the sound emanated from her pocket. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the Dragon Radar, and when she looked at it her eyes went as wide as saucers.

"Naruto look!" Sakura said.

Naruto looked at Sakura before he stood by her side and took a look at what was making her so shocked. Naruto saw that the Dragonball was much closer than it was before, and it kept moving closer to them.

"We're closer to the ball than before." Naruto said.

"Yes, except we aren't moving." Sakura said.

Naruto's eyes then widened to the size of saucers as well. Naruto then heard a rumbling sound in the distance; they all heard it. Naruto looked towards the desert and saw a huge wall of Sand come from out of nowhere and Approach them at very fast speeds.

"What the heck is that?" Naruto asked out loud; even from this far out he could tell that whatever that thing was, it was not good for them.

"Oh no…" Temari said paralysed to the spot she stood on.

"What is it?" Sakura asked worriedly.

"Chiyo-baa, is that…?" Gaara said, still with his emotionless façade, although you could tell that whatever it was, it scared even.

"Yes…" replied the old woman.

"Naruto turned around and saw Chiyo was behind them all, along with a few other shinobi that were behind her. Naruto had not even noticed their presence before until now.

The veritable sand wave kept on edging closer and closer.

The people and shinobi that were in the villa were frightened. Naruto continued to watch as the sand edged closer until it stopped a few hundred metres away from them.

Naruto could literally feel the oppressive feeling that whatever that was under the sand wave emitted.

"Will someone please tell me what the heck that is?" Naruto said, but there was no need for that. The sand burst from an internal explosion that shot it up into the sky, before it rained back down onto the ground. A deep growl emanated from whatever blew the sand apart.

Naruto could already tell what this thing was. It had golden eyes and it looked like a sand sculptured racoon, it was…

"The Ichibi no Shukaku…" Naruto said in fear.


	6. Chapter Six: Naruto Vs Shukaku

Chapter Six: Naruto Vs Shukaku

Hatake Kakashi was currently moving through a dense forest with great vigour. He was hopping from one tree to the next. His summon, Pakkun, was currently running on the ground below, with his nose stuck to it, sniffing for any scent that would leading to their target. Pakkun had been doing this for the past hour and a half, and he was getting pretty sick of it.

"How much are these people paying you again, Kakashi?" Pakkun asked his master.

"Just know that it is enough to keep us well fed for more than six months." Kakashi replied.

"Don't you mean keep_ you_ well fed for six months?" Pakkun replied sarcastically.

Kakashi just chuckled slightly before he said, "Focus, we can't lose the girl's scent."

Pakkun did not say anything else as he just put his nose back on the ground and moved towards the girl's scent. It kept on getting stronger and stronger until it finally stopped at a clearing that had obviously seen better days.

"Wow, what a mess." Pakkun said.

Kakashi did not need to say anything for his summon to know that he agreed with him. The clearing they were in had a huge crater, and it had a few trees that were uprooted all around it. There were wooden splinters all over the show; clearly whatever was here got blown to smithereens.

"Whoever lived here did not want anyone to find out that they were here." Pakkun said.

"What do you mean, Pakkun? You mean to tell me that someone actually lived here?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, despite the strong smell of smoke that's permitting the area, I can smell four different scents emanating from this place…one of which happens to be the girl's scent." Pakkun said to his master.

Kakashi said nothing at first, before something about the way Pakkun spoke caught his attention, "You recognise something else, don't you?"

"Yeah…" Pakkun replied, "the smell of a toad."

Kakashi's eyes widened upon hearing that. The toads only had two summoners as far as he knew. One was dead while the other had not been seen for over a decade. If what Pakkun said was true, then this is where Jiraiya, his master's master, had been living for the past twelve years.

"What else do you recognise?" Kakashi asked.

"Nothing much, there's a scent that leads away from this place…two scents, one being the girl, while the other I do not recognise." Pakkun stated.

Kakashi was silent as he mauled things over. It could be that someone had taken the girl as a hostage, before they came across Jiraiya and had a battle with him, before running away with the girl. Or it could be that the girl had found herself a travelling companion. Kami knows she would need it if she was wondering this chaotic world of theirs.

"Alright Pakkun, follow the girl's scent." Kakashi told his summon.

The dog just nodded before he placed his nose on the ground and started sniffing his way out of the clearing as he led his master towards their target, hopefully, the scent would not die soon.

**Kaze no Kuni – Sabaku Villa **

The Ichibi no Shukaku stared down at the puny humans that were in its way from collecting the one thing its creator had told him and his brothers and sisters to look out for. He had been busy sulking underneath Kaze no Kuni's deserts for the last twenty years, after he had suffered yet another defeat at a human's hands. While he was busy sulking he had sensed it. It was the one thing his father said that he should protect at all costs from humans.

He had once heard that blasted older brother of his ask their father why he had even created it, but their father replied that it was necessary. Shukaku did not understand, and he never thought that he would ever understand what that meant. All he knew was that he and his siblings were tasked with guarding it, and guard it he shall, even if he did not have to guard this one.

Naruto and company were staring at the massive form of the Ichibi in abject horror…so this is a bijuu outside of its cage. The Kyuubi was frightening enough behind its cage, but when you knew that the creature could not get out, you tended to be less frightened then you would actually be. Naruto wondered if his father actually felt this fear before he took down the Kyuubi.

"Great…of all the times that that pixie dust using Kazuya decides to leave Kaze no Kuni…Shukaku just had to be here." said a Kunoichi that stood on a rooftop, looking at the giant bijuu.

The kunoichi was fairly tall in terms of height. She was fair-skinned with pupiless brown eyes. She had green hair that she tied in a bun on top of her head that with a needle running through it and one short and long strands of hair with orange tips framing each side of her face. Her attire consisted of a sleeveless, black top and short tight pants, with two lapels on the front and the back.

She also happened to wear an obi around her waist as well as purple arm-warmers which extended up to her shoulders. She also wore bandages around her tights and her ankles.

"Don't worry, Pakura-san, I'm sure Gaara-sama's sand will stop the beast just like his father's gold dust." said a shinobi in a hopeful manner.

'_Wait, this Gaara guy was the son of the guy that kicked Shukaku's tail twenty years ago? No wonder he's so fucking strong.' _

Naruto then heard Gaara say, "No, Shukaku's power is greater than mine…he and I wield the same element, but he has centuries of mastery over me, he also happens to be fresh while I just fought over fifty men, even at full strength I would not be able to take Shukaku down."

Naruto could practically feel the fear rising in everyone, Sakura and he included.

'_Great motivator, Gaara…'_ Naruto thought sarcastically.

Everyone watched as Shukaku's gigantic form seemed to edge closer to them. A few people started moving back slowly.

"There's no hope…we gotta run." said a shinobi weakly.

"No w-we can't." Naruto said in fear filled defiance.

"Don't kid yourself, gaki. If Kazuya's sperm-on-legs couldn't do it, then forget it as well. I promised to serve this family 'til the end, so if Gaara says we retreat, then we do that." Pakura said evenly, despite the great fear she felt right now.

"And where would we retreat to, exactly?" Gaara asked monotonously, "There is no outrunning Shukaku in the desert."

Naruto kept quiet as he watched Shukaku edge closer and closer to their location. Gaara was right, how would you be able to outrun a creature made out of sand, and that could control sand with nothing but a mere though, in the desert.

Naruto knew that the only way for them to have even an inkling chance of survival was to take on the Ichibi. But how do you take on a bijuu, especially one that has home ground advantage? He could try and rally the people to fight with him…but what good were a few dozen shinobi against the might of a bijuu. And they would not listen to a twelve year old kid that would be sentencing them to their death.

Shukaku's form continued to get closer and closer, prompting a few more shinobi to start back pedalling as well.

'Cowards.' Naruto thought, but then again could he blame them.

How do you take on a mountain sized creature? It's not like anyone of these guys could just transform into giants like he had heard of the Akimichi clan doing so. If only he could do that…wait. Suddenly a light bulb went off in Naruto's head.

He could not believe that he had forgotten this.

Naruto steeled his resolve and then moved away from the group, making a mad dash directly at Shukaku.

"What the fuck's he doing?" asked a random shinobi in fear.

"He's fucking crazy!" Temari said out loud.

"Naruto…what are you doing?" Sakura screamed, but Naruto chose to ignore her as he continued his mad dash for Shukaku.

"**Ah,**" the giant bijuu said in glee, "**One of you wants to die! Okay, I'll kill you! Hahahaha**" the bijuu laughed manically as it raised its front right paw, looking to bring it down on Naruto.

"Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu (Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique)!" Naruto said out loud as he slammed his palm onto the ground.

A second later a gigantic red toad that wore a blue open flak jacket, and carried a giant pipe in its mouth and carried a tanto on the side, landed on top of Shukaku before he could bring his paw down on Naruto.

There was an audible BOOM that occurred, as sand was sent flying in every direction by the impact caused by the toad landing on the bijuu. Dust was in the air as Naruto made a b-line towards the creature he had summoned. He, in his state of complete fear, had forgotten about his summoning ability.

He quickly jumped onto Shukaku's dazed head, which was lying flat on the ground due to the impact, before he took out his Fuuinjutsu set from the seals on his wrists, before he started scribbling things down. Three seconds later, he slapped a piece of paper on Shukaku's head before he jumped onto his summon.

The dust that was in the air soon parted and the spectators were treated to a scene that shocked them to the core. Shukaku was lying flat on the ground, and he had a giant toad on top of him.

"Impossible…" said an utterly shocked Pakura.

Everyone else had similar thoughts raging in their heads as they watched the boy that had made a mad, suicidal dash for Shukaku, pin the bijuu down in one move.

Sakura let out a breath she did not even know she was holding. Seeing Naruto's suicide dash made her feel like her life was about to end. A small part of her had thought that Naruto was basically sacrificing himself so that he would be spared the pain of a slow death, but it seems she was wrong. Naruto had once again saved her life.

Back with Naruto and the giant toad things were a bit less than civil.

"I'm getting sick and tired of you and your old man summoning me to face bijuu…no summon has had to deal with the crap that I have been through." The giant toad said irritably to the boy.

"Oh c'mon, Bunta, this will be a great story to tell your grandkids…grandpoles." Naruto said pleadingly.

"What did I say about you calling me by my name?" Gamabunta said menacingly.

Unfortunately for them, their conversation had to be cut short because of the fact that Shukaku started steering underneath Gamabunta. Shukaku's movements caused everyone to hold their breath. Gamabunta on the other hand chose to try and pin the bijuu down on the ground, but pretty soon, he was forced to leap away as a gigantic sand wave nearly crashed into him.

Shukaku rose from the ground feeling really angry…well he was always angry, but now it was on another level.

"**You insolent little pest!**" Shukaku said in true rage, "**I will kill you and that giant wart!**"

Uh-oh…bad move Shukaku…

Gamabunta was mad…no one got away with calling him that. Bijuu or not, Shukaku was going down.

The two titanic beasts moved towards each other. Shukaku moved on all fours while Gamabunta leapt into the air, before he unsheathed his giant tanto. Shukaku saw what the toad boss wanted to do, but did not give him the chance to do so, as he brought his hand over to his belly, whilst simultaneously drawing in air, before he slammed his belly and said, "**Fuuton: Renkudan** (Wind Style: Drilling Air Bullet)**!**"

The air bullet nearly caught Naruto and Gamabunta in mid-air, luckily for them Gamabunta had a move of his own that could counter Shukaku's Renkudan.

"Suiton: Teppodama (Water Style: Water Bullet)!"

The two attacks met in mid-air and caused a rain effect as the two techniques exploded upon contact. Water rained all over the battlefield between the two titanic beasts, while the air blew heavily, forcing the spectators to shield their eyes from the harsh sandstorm.

Gamabunta made another leap into the air, just as Shukaku had released another Renkudan, and he managed to evade it. Luckily for the spectators, Shukaku was not facing them; otherwise that Renkudan would have torn through them, and also the villa.

Shukaku fired another Renkudan at the duo who evaded once again by jumping into the air. While in mid-air Naruto said, "Boss, gimme some oil!"

Gamabunta obliged, although he wondered what Naruto could do with it since he was not a Katon jutsu user as far as he knew. Naruto meanwhile, went through a speed of hand seals as soon as Gamabunta released the oil, and drew in a deep breath before he spewed out a huge torrent of flames from his mouth, 'Katon: Endan (Fire Style: Flame Ball)!' Naruto intoned in his head.

His jutsu mixed with Gamabunta's oil and ended up creating a deadly combination that resulted in an even bigger fire technique.

'Since when did the gaki use Katon?' Gamabunta thought to himself.

What the toad boss did not know was that Naruto had secretly trained himself in the ability to use Katon ninjutsu. It started out pitifully, where he could only make wisps appear. One day during one of his and Jiraiya's spars, Naruto had forced the man to use fire in order to avoid being hit…but that also lead to Naruto nearly getting burned, he was saved by his staff's special ability.

Ever since that day whenever he trained in fire ninjutsu, it was surprisingly easier than before, and every time he did it, he got better at it. An example of this would be this very instance where he was better at using the attack than the last time he tried it out, and that was months ago. Naruto attributed it to his near-death experience at the hands of fire that ended up awakening his seemingly secondary ability to use fire. Something weird had also happened to his staff that day. It was originally black in colour, but now it was red.

If Jiraiya did not know anything about Naruto's secret Katon ability, then neither would Gamabunta, right?

Back to the battle, Naruto and Gamabunta's combination attack hit Shukaku…or at least they hope it did. When the smoke screen that was created by their jutsu died down, it revealed a solid pane of glass.

"Glass?" Naruto thought out loud.

Gamabunta was forced to dodge just a second later as another Renkudan was launched at them through the glass. The glass was smashed into pieces, but luckily for them they were out of range so the shards did not harm them.

Shukaku launched another Renkudan, one that they dodged with ease, and whilst in mid-air, Naruto said to Gamabunta once again, "Gimme more oil, boss!"

The toad boss wondered what the kid had planned, but he obliged, and he released another oil barrage, only for Naruto to add his fire to it, and they ended up creating yet another gargantuan fireball. And just like before Shukaku made a wall of sand that protected him. And just like before Shukaku sent a Renkudan through the glass, and once again he missed the toad boss.

Suddenly Shukaku looked up and caught sight of the blonde wonder descending upon him, with his toad having stayed back. Shukaku looked at the sand wall and that is when everything made sense to the bijuu. The boy had purposely used the same combination as before to get him to erect a sand wall, and in the end they created a glass wall. The boy had then used the glass wall as a means of jumping over his Renkudan by simply using it as a foothold before it was destroyed.

He knew that he would be too busy paying attention at the giant toad to give a crud about him.

"Aaaaargh!" Naruto cried as he descended from the night sky with four kunai wrapped in exploding tags…regular tags. Naruto threw the kunai, just as Shukaku started drawing in some air for his Renkudan, and he went through the hand seals for the last jutsu he had learned and mastered, "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique)!"

The effect was instantaneous. Instead of the four original kunai raining down on Shukaku, it instead became over four hundred, every single one of them had an exploding tag on it that was currently sizzling.

**BOOM! **

The explosion that occurred was great…beyond great even. It resulting force from the explosion had caused Naruto to be blown backwards so hard that he would have flown past Gamabunta's position had the toad boss not caught him like a baseball player catching a ball. The explosion also caused Naruto a few burns, but they were minor.

Gamabunta stared at his hand in wonder as he watched Naruto slowly get up, slightly huffing and dusted himself off.

"Wow…that was something else." Naruto said in awe of his plan.

Gamabunta just stared at the crazy kid before he shook his head. It must be a genetic thing to take on bijuu. Like father like son it seemed.

Gamabunta's nostalgia was cut short when a large ball of compressed air came flying out of the nowhere, but thanks to some quick reactions, Naruto and Gamabunta were able to dodge the ball of compressed air.

Naruto and Gamabunta turned to see a heavily burnt, but slowly healing Shukaku that looked at them with murderous rage all over his face. After a few minutes of staring each other, not sure about what to do (Naruto and Gamabunta), the battle finally ensued once again.

Shukaku launched a Renkudan at the duo, but it was dodged by Gamabunta jumping into the air.

Shukaku and Gamabunta continued their little…err, huge song and dance for a few more minutes…Shukaku releasing an endless barrage of Renkudan just to keep Gamabunta away from him so that he could regenerate, while Gamabunta grew frustrated with the way things were going in the battle.

Suddenly Naruto had an idea.

"Boss…when I say…you know what, just follow my lead!" Naruto shouted.

He held up the ram hand seal for a few moments before he said, "Bang."

The piece of paper that was on top of Shukaku's head started sizzling, before it exploded. The explosion caused Shukaku to lose concentration on his Renkudan barrage as half his head was blown off. Gamabunta seeing what Naruto meant when he said, 'follow my lead', did just that. He followed the kid's lead. He made a huge jump, before he cleanly cut through Shukaku's neck before he landed back on the soft desert sand.

Shukaku stood still for a few seconds before he fell on to the sand, front first, with no head on his shoulders.

Those that had been watching the battle, which was pretty much everybody, were absolutely astonished by what they saw. Their gaping mouths served to prove that. Even the normally stoic Gaara had shock written all over his face.

"How…?" Temari said in a whisper, but everybody was able to hear her.

Chiyo looked at the boy with keen eyes…she could already see that he was far from being ordinary. He had just taken down a creature that most experienced shinobi would run away from with their tails tucked in between their legs.

Sakura just stared at Naruto in pure amazement.

Pakura looked at the kid with envy, envy caused by her jealousy over the fact that he was able to swallow his fear and face Shukaku in battle. She felt so weak right now.

Gamabunta then leapt once into the air before he landed on the ground, causing sand to rise up, and thus causing the other shinobi to block their eyes.

The group stared at Naruto and Gamabunta, not sure about what to say, until finally someone said, "That was…AWESOME!"

As if a dam had been broken down, Naruto and Gamabunta were showered in praises from the surrounding shinobi. Naruto, never having experienced praise from such a large group of people blushed madly, while Gamabunta on the other hand just soaked it all up.

While everyone was busy congratulating Naruto and Gamabunta, the sad Around Shukaku's head, or at least where the head was supposed to be, started to move. It moved in such a manner that it gathered around Shukaku's shoulders, before it attached itself onto the bijuu. After that it started to remodel itself up until it took the appearance of a head. No one saw this occur due to their attention being elsewhere.

Suddenly everybody stopped talking. They heard something that sounded like movement, forcing them to either turn around (Naruto and Gamabunta) or look up (everyone else) and look at what was making this sound. What they all saw terrified them.

Shukaku slowly rose from the ground, way beyond mad. He seemed to be out for blood if the killing intent he laced the air with was any indication.

"**That's it! No more mister nice guy!**" the insane bijuu screamed out loud.

"He was being nice?" Naruto asked in a rhetorical, yet also sarcastic manner.

Suddenly the sand around them all started to start spinning and suck them in. It caused Gamabunta to wobble, and it also caused Naruto to lose his footing on the giant toad and fall flat on his back.

The sand continued to suck them in until Gaara decided to act. He placed his hands onto the sand and concentrated. The effect was instantaneous. Shukaku's control over the sand vortex started loosening enough for the other to jump out of it.

Gamabunta, in an effort to help Gaara out, placed his hands in the ram seal before he said, "Suiton: Teppodama!"

Once again he launched a giant water bullet at Shukaku, but this time it succeeded in hitting the bijuu due to it being too busy trying to wrestle control of the sand vortex with Gaara.

At the same time Naruto unsealed and threw his red staff at Sakura and said, "Sakura, stick the staff into the ground, now!"

Shukaku stumbled as he was hit by the water bullet. Gamabunta used this opportunity to jump and head straight for Shukaku, looking to behead him again.

Sakura did not understand what sticking his staff into the ground would do, but hopefully the blonde knew what he was doing. Sakura did as Naruto instructed her to do and stuck the red staff into ground. The effect that this manoeuvre had was immediate. The sand loosened up considerably to the point where the vortex was gone, as all the sand did was move very slowly.

Shukaku regained his balance just in time to launch his front right paw at Gamabunta, the toad boss, being in mid-air, could not avoid the hit in time, but luckily for him, he had a saviour in the form of Naruto.

"Fuuton: Kaze Tsurugi no Jutsu (Wind Style: Wind Cutter Technique)!" Naruto said out loud just as Shukaku's arm was about to hit Gamabunta.

A very big, yet also very sharp wind blade was launched by Naruto from his chokuto slash, and the wind blade proceeded to cut right into Shukaku's shoulder, separating the arm he was about to use to whack Gamabunta, from its shoulder.

Gamabunta came in with what would have been a perfect slice, had Shukaku not lowered his huge head just in time to avoid the toad boss' sword slash. Just as they were about to pass over Shukaku, Naruto saw something that caught his attention, and upon closer inspection, it also caught his shock.

There, sitting on top of Shukaku's head was a Dragonball. That's right it was imbedded in his head…Naruto could not believe he did not see it earlier when he had jumped onto the tanuki's head. But then again there was a dust cloud that was all over the battlefield at the time…there still was, bust it had lessened considerably.

Unfortunately for Gamabunta, he landed directly behind Shukaku, parallel to the creature's tail, which a second later struck the toad boss hard enough that he was sent flying far away from Shukaku.

Gamabunta was helped by the fact that the sand was soft, so it was able to break his landing.

Shukaku used the time to regenerate his arm. He looked at the toad and its human partner. He then turned his head towards the other humans that had been watching his battle with the human/toad duo, and then an idea went off in Shukaku's head.

"**Hahahaha…you seem to be very attached to these weak humans that can't get over their fear of me to face me in battle. How about I just kill them so we can rid the world of these weak nuisances?!**" Shukaku screamed maniacally at Naruto and Gamabunta.

Shukaku then opened his mouth and everyone was given birth to red and blue orbs of chakra forming around the air above Shukaku's mouth. The orbs started coming together and an even larger orb was formed. The orb finally stabilised into a black ball that looked bigger that the Renkudan that Shukaku had been spitting earlier.

"Oh shit, gaki…that's the Bijuudama." Gamabunta said.

Naruto did not know what the heck that thing could do, but if what Shukaku said earlier was any indication, then that ball could kill his friend, Sakura, and all of the others that were with her.

"Not a chance." Naruto said with determination, "Boss, when I say pull, I want you to pull! Now get me close to that tanuki!"

Gamabunta did not need to know what the kid had planned, he just hoped that it would be enough to stop the Bijuudama, but he highly doubted that.

Back with Shukaku, the Bijuudama had finally taken its proper form, thus prompting Shukaku to take aim at the crowd of people that were too paralysed in fear to do anything either than watch as the Ichibi took aim at them. Just as Shukaku was about to fire his Bijuudama at the crowd of shinobi something happened.

Yellow bindings started to appear all over the tanuki's legs just as he was about to fire the Bijuudama. The bindings wrapped themselves around Shukaku's legs tightly. Those that were watching saw that the bindings originated from Naruto, or to be more specific, his head.

"Now boss, pull!" Naruto shouted.

Gamabunta grabbed the yellow bindings that were in actuality Naruto's hair, and pulled them hard, so hard that Shukaku lost his balance and ended up falling on his back, but that was not the worst of it. Shukaku seemed to lose control of his Bijuudama, and thus it ended up exploding in his face, blowing his entire upper body apart.

Gamabunta had jumped in order to close the distance between him and Shukaku. Naruto had then proceeded to jump off him and landed squarely on the ground before he used one of Jiraiya's original jutsu, the Ranjishigami no Jutsu (Art of the Raging Lion's Mane). The Jutsu involved Naruto channelling chakra into his hair, forcefully extending it to the point that seems infinite. Then the hair wraps itself around your target, squeezing the life out of them. The more chakra in the technique, the longer your hair grows, and the more powerful the squeezing effect.

Naruto was huffing and he had his hands on his knees as his head bled from having his hair forcefully pulled in order to save his friends from the Bijuudama. He did not mind though. If Shukaku's current form was any indication, then his friend and their companions would have died.

His hair had detangled itself from Shukaku and proceeded to get back to its normal state. That was the other jutsu that Jiraiya had taught him. It was the first jutsu he learned from the toad sage. The second was how to summon, along with the special summoning jutsu, Yatai Kuzushi (Food Cart Destroyer).

Naruto then proceeded to slowly walk up towards Shukaku's destroyed body. Everyone watched as he seemed to search for something for a few minutes, before he found it. He then pocketed it away.

Naruto's vision began to blur a little and he swayed a bit on his feet. The others saw this, and before Naruto could hit the soft desert sand, he was held by Chiyo's chakra strings, clearly unconscious. The battle had caused him to use every jutsu he had to maximum effect, and as such he was forced to expand nearly all of his reserves.

**The following day**

There was a bright light that permitted through Naruto's closed eyes that forcefully woke him up from his slumber. Naruto slowly rose into an upright position as he looked around his surroundings and saw that his room was currently occupied by five other people excluding him.

The first was Sakura, who was sleeping at the foot of the bed he had slept on, curled into a foetal position.

"She's been by your side since last night…she refused to let you out of her sight." Chiyo said. She was the second person.

He looked around some more and saw that there was that Temari girl along with her brother, Gaara. The fifth person was a woman he remembered being called Pakura, if his memory served him right.

"Ow…" Naruto groaned out loud as soon as he was hit by the full effect of what happened last night. He had pulled out everything he had in order to defeat Shukaku.

"I would be surprised if it did not hurt." Pakura said with her arms folded as she leaned into the wall and watched Naruto grab hold of his bandaged head, "But you should consider yourself lucky if the only thing that hurts right now is your head…no one fights a bijuu and only comes out with a headache.

Naruto just stared at the woman in blankly for a second before he said, "Well I guess I'm lucky."

"Or well trained." Temari stated.

"I agree with Temari over there." Pakura said, "I would ask about who trained you, but considering the fact that you can summon giant toads, use hair-based ninjutsu and fire as well, it's safe to say that you were trained by Jiraiya the Gama Sennin."

Hey, she wasn't a kunoichi for nothing. Anyone worth their salt knew about the man, considering his power. He had achieved a feat that only a few clan-less shinobi had achieved legendary status. And she also knew about him thanks to his nefarious nature of peeping on woman…it was a well-known fact that the man was a pervert.

Naruto started to sweat at the mentioning of his master. If this woman knew his godfather's identity, then she would know about his father, and if she knew that then…

"Hey kid, you ok?" Pakura asked seeing Naruto's spaced out look.

Naruto managed to regain himself before he said, "Yeah…I'm fine."

"Good. Now, did Jiraiya train you or not?" Pakura inquired.

"Pakura-chan, leave the boy alone…" Chiyo said.

Pakura just nodded her head in acceptance. Naruto just looked around before his eyes laid on Temari, and he saw that she was looking at him with an expression he could not quite understand.

"What is it, Temari-san?" Naruto asked the girl.

Temari just looked away from Naruto, further confusing the blonde as to what might be the problem with her.

"She wants to know if you could teach her the jutsu you used to cut off Shukaku's arm." Gaara said in a monotonous voice in a manner that made it seem like he had been reading Naruto's mind.

"Whoa, so you're Fuuton jutsu user?" Naruto asked in awe.

"Of course I am…what did you think this battle fan was for?" Temari said pointing to her fan with her thumb as it was strapped on her back.

"Well, with the way you tried to use it on me before I just thought it was a sword." Naruto said sheepishly.

"When have you ever seen a blunt sword?" Temari asked in slight anger.

"Um, have you seen Uchiha Madara's gunbai?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"Uchiha Madara's what?" Temari said in confusion.

"Nothing." Naruto said shaking his head, "Well unfortunately I can't teach you the jutsu simply because you don't meet two of the three requirements."

"Oh?" Temari stated feeling offended, "And what would that be?"

"You have one of the three qualities necessary, and that's a strong affinity. The other two requirements are very high chakra reserves and you also have to be a kenjutsu user, unfortunately you possess neither of those qualities." Naruto said.

Temari just sighed and lowered her head in defeat. It was worth a shot.

Sakura stirred for a few seconds before she finally woke up and she immediately turned and looked at Naruto with a soft gaze. Naruto returned it with a small, warm smile. Unfortunately the moment ended a few seconds later when Sakura jumped strangled him and started shaking him like a rag-doll while also saying things like, "Don't ever do stupid things like that ever again!" and "Baka, do you know how worried I was about you?" amongst other things.

This continued for a few minutes before Sakura was forced to let Naruto go when she saw his face turning blue. Naruto took copious gulps of air as soon as Sakura let him go, and while he was doing that the aforementioned girl jumped out of the bed they were both on and went to a bag that was in the corner, before she pulled out two items from it and walked back to Naruto.

"Naruto…" she said quietly.

Naruto looked up to see that Sakura held two items that he considered valuable. One was his red staff which was in his right hand, while the other was the golden orb that he had picked up after he had defeated Shukaku…it was the one star Dragonball.

The staff looked the same, except for the fact that there was now a greyish-black stripe towards the bottom of the staff. He wondered what had caused that.

"That staff of yours…" Gaara said in a monotonous voice, "it seems to have some sort of chakra destabilising ability. I felt it when it was able to greatly weaken Shukaku's sand vortex."

Naruto just shook his head and said, "Not quite, Gaara-san. It does not have a chakra destabilising effect. My master told me that it had a chakra absorption ability."

"Chakra absorption?" Pakura said out loud.

"Yes…I once used it to absorb my shisou's Katon jutsu. I wonder what turned it grey at the bottom." Naruto said the last part more to himself than anyone else.

The group then turned their attention to the orange orb in Sakura's other hand and Temari asked, "What is that?"

The duo of Naruto and Sakura had already had a plan in place if they were faced with such a situation where they had to explain what the heck they were carrying. They did not think it best to just blurt out that they were currently hunting down nine magic balls of great power that could grant any wish one desired.

"We're on a mission to collect this ball, and a few more that are like it that have a great evil within them. Our mission is to collect them all and return them to where they were so they can be destroyed…what we just told you cannot leave this room. You never know what someone evil would do if they discovered these balls." Sakura said in a serious tone.

The others just nodded their heads at that; and while Sakura continued feeding them lies about what the ball was Naruto chose to look at the ball that contained one star in it.

One star? Wait…something clicked in the blonde's mind.

'**Watch over my Dragonball ningen…you're the one that will have to guard it now that you are my Jinchuriki**' those were the words that resonated through the blonde's head as he remembered the only conversation he had with the Kyuubi.

'_The ball, apparently, was guarded by a gigantic flaming monster cat that killed many of the men that went on the journey. My father was the only one to make it out alive, and with the Dragonball in his clutches._' Those were Sakura's words when she described what had happened in order for her to come into possession of her two star Dragonball.

Shukaku had the one star Dragonball on him. The Kyuubi had the nine star Dragonball on him. If he remembered his knowledge on bijuu correctly, then the one they called the Nibi no Bakemono (Two-tailed monster cat), it was a flaming giant cat.

These three things were too good to be just coincidences. If he was right, then every Dragonball was guarded by a bijuu, and each star represented the tailed beast guarding it.

This new information greatly troubled Naruto. If what he had just pieced together was true, then they would have to battle every bijuu that guarded a Dragonball. He had to tell Sakura about this, but not right now, when they were gone from this place. If he told that to Sakura, then he would have to tell her the truth about his Jinchuriki status since the girl would ask about how he came into possession of the nine star ball.

Thinking about Jinchuriki made him think about Shukaku, and it also caused a question to pop in his mind.

"Hey, what the heck happened to Shukaku?"

The others, who had been talking amongst themselves turned and looked at him with smiles adorned on their faces.

"You defeated Shukaku…after you blew half his body, he dematerialised." Pakura said.

"Huh?" Naruto said looking at the gathering in a confused manner.

"What she means is that Shukaku turned back into sand and went back into hiding." Sakura said.

"Really?" Naruto asked with a bright smile on his face.

"Yep…congratulations, you are the third person to defeat Shukaku in the last century. You're a certified legend now." Chiyo said, before she suddenly gained a look that screamed realisation, but none of the others noticed it.

Praises continued to fly for Naruto as he was congratulated on his victory over Shukaku.

Eventually though, Chiyo chased them all out. She said that she needed a one on one moment with the patient. When they were all gone, Chiyo's facial expression became serious as she looked at Naruto for a minute or so as if gauging him.

"You know, I meant it when I said that you are a legend now. A – What, twelve year old…?" Chiyo said in a questioning manner, to which Naruto nodded when he realised that the woman was asking him his age.

"A twelve year old boy defeated one of the nine scariest creatures on the planet. I think I forgot to mention the fact that you are only the second person within the last twelve years to defeat a bijuu." Chiyo stated calmly. Her statement caused Naruto's eyes to bulge as he realised what Chiyo meant.

"When did you figure it out?" Naruto asked sadly, looking down onto the bed covers.

"When I said that you defeated a bijuu. It jogged my brain and made me piece together everything. You can use jutsu that Jiraiya the toad sage uses, a man who happened to train the last Kami no Shinobi, the Kiroi Senkō, Namikaze Minato. It also happened that you look like the man. You are Minato's son. The son he turned into a Jinchuriki." Chiyo said.

"How do you know all of these things, Baa-chan?"

"Trade secret."

Naruto just sighed before he nodded and said, "Please, don't tell the others about me."

"Don't worry, I won't. Well I just wanted to confirm my suspicions of you…" Chiyo said, getting up and walking to the door. She put her hand on the handle, before stopping to turn around and say, "I don't know why they say you are an abomination as all I see is a cute boy."

She then opened the door and exited the room, and closed the door behind her, not having any idea the effect her words had on Naruto, who just smiled and looked up at the ceiling.

Maybe, just maybe, he could do what Jiraiya had once said he could do, and change the minds of everyone that thought that Jinchuriki were evil. If Chiyo was any indication then it was possible.

**END**

**So now both Naruto and Sakura have a secret that they want to keep to themselves. For Naruto it's his Jinchuriki status, and for Sakura it's her father's deceased status being a fake one. She truly cares for Naruto now despite the short time together, and it is now eating her on the inside.**

**And so ends the chapter and the short arc. The net arc will be longer than this, don't how long, but it just will be. It's gonna be called the World Combat Championship (WCC) Arc. **

**A few things I want to discuss about my story so far: **

**Naruto's staff basically absorbs elements, and/or abilities. He told Gaara that it was simply chakra absorption because that is what he thinks it is. He will find out soon about its true abilities. **

**I, at first, wanted to make the staff be like Goku's Power pole, but I realised that Enma already fulfilled that role in the Narutoverse, so I had to change it. **

**I love how Canon Naruto uses Yoton and Jiton, I especially like the Jiton Rasengan…I'm gonna steal it…you'll see how I do it. **

**Upcoming chapters will finally introduce Shizuka to you guys. **

**I want your opinion on something…should I include the Keyoken (not sure if I spelt it right)…it would be awesome if I could? I just fear that I might make Naruto too powerful too early…but don't worry, he won't get it in the net arc. **

**Anyway, I'm out. **


	7. Chapter Seven: Of Mice and Men

**A/N:**

**It's time for another chapter of this story. This chapter begins what is a prelude arc to the World Combat Championship arc that will come along later on. **

**Anyway, here's the next chapter…**

Chapter Seven: …of mice and men

Two people were currently staring at one another as they stood opposite from one another in a large clearing. There was grass all over the place they stood on, and the trees were over twenty metres away. The sun shone brightly on them as they got into their respective fight positions.

The first person was a man that had brown hair that was matted onto his forehead, overlapping a white cloth that had the Senju emblem emblazoned on it. He wore a tight fitting black vest and matching arm warmers. He had on a pair of dark blue pants and black shinobi sandals. Across his chest was a brown leather strap that was connected to the sword sheath he had on his back. The only part of the sword that was visible was the blue handle it had.

The person who stood across from him was a person that was in their late teens to early twenties…this person had blonde hair that had white highlights in it. His hair reached down to his shoulders, but he kept it from obstructing his vision by wearing a black cloth that had the Senju emblem on it, but he used it as a hair band. In terms of gear, he wore a pure black long-sleeved top and black pants and shinobi sandals of the same colour, but on top of the black top he wore red armour reminiscent of a samurai. The man's look was finished off by the Zanbatō he had on his back.

The two men continued to stare at each other for a few more minutes, before the tension that they built between themselves became too much, so they both jumped in at the same time. They made a dash for each other, quickly drawing out kunai from their respective pouches, before they met in the middle, with their kunai clashing and looking for dominance. The two men continued to push each other, neither willing to move an inch from the spot they stood on, both trying to outmuscle the other man.

Eventually though they broke it off when they jumped back at the same time when they realised that they had come to a battle of attrition. The blonde haired man released a volley of shuriken at his opponent, only for said man to be protected by a wall of earth that rose up from the ground on its own. It did not even look like he had been trying; in fact he did not even weave a single hand seal.

When the blonde haired man touched the ground, the stone wall simply crumbled into dirt, but the man who was supposed to be behind it was long gone.

"Damn, where is he?" said the blonde as he looked up into the sky, before he looked to his left and right, but found no sign of his opponent, before he quickly substituted himself with a log just in time to save his skin from a pair hands that sprung from the ground. The hands were soon joined by a pair of arms, before they were eventually joined by a torso and then finally a fully body. The body of the brown haired male.

Now it was the brown haired male's turn to look around searching for his opponent. He did not have to wait long as another volley of shuriken came flying at him, and just like before an earth wall rose up from the ground, but that was a huge mistake on the brown hair man's part. The ground that had been used to create the earth wall was laced with exploding tags that were already burning away.

The brown haired male quickly slipped into the ground just in time to avoid being caught in the ensuing explosion that occurred, sending debris everywhere as the earth wall was blown to bits.

The blonde individual dropped down from the tree line after the explosion had died down and took a look around at the surrounding land scape and just sighed to himself. No way would that keep his opponent down for long. He was proven right a second later when his opponent rose up from the ground like some sort of apparition. He rose in such a manner that the ground seemed to be untouched after he had finished rising up out of it.

The two men looked at each other with calculating eyes, before the blonde male smiled a little and said, "Your Doton ninjutsu truly is great, Nawaki-ojii."

"Of course it is," replied the man who had been identified as Nawaki jovially, "I'm the best Doton user in the world, so would you expect any less from your awesome uncle?"

"Of course not, but then again, I'm just getting warmed up." The blonde said with a smirk on his face.

"Good…" said Nawaki as he got back into his original battle stance, "because I'd be disappointed if some exploding paper stuck to a rock was the best you could do, Kai."

The blonde man, who had now been identified as Kai, simply took the Zanbatō that was on his back and pointed it at his uncle and said, "Bring it."

"Oh, so you're using Hashirama-jiji's sword, huh? How about I bring out my blade as well?" Nawaki said as he grabbed hold of the blue handle that was popping out of his sheath and drew it. He produced forth one of the most legendary blades to have been ever seen in the shinobi world, the Raijin no Ken.

Kai held his Zanbatō with his right hand only, showcasing how strong he must have been if he could lift such a big sword.

Nawaki on the other hand just held the Raijin in a reverse grip with his right hand, before he used his left hand and produced what many people recognise as the 'c'mon' sign.

Kai did not disappoint as he sped off towards his, with his Zanbatō trailing behind him. Kai brought his Zanbatō down in a slashing motion, but instead of his uncle trying to block the move like he had hoped he would, Nawaki instead chose to roll under the slash, and midway into the roll, Nawaki stuck out his sword, where it cut his nephew's leg just before he made a full roll. Nawaki then jumped back onto his feet before he jumped backwards in order to avoid Kai's backward slash before he landed on the ground and placed his hand upon it. Kai, who had now turned to face his uncle, ran at him only to be stopped by the ground rumbling, before it broke off into pieces from right underneath him. Kai then used evasive manoeuvres and ended up jumping really high into the air, but unfortunately for him that was where his uncle wanted him.

With his hand still firmly placed on the ground, Nawaki caused the lose rocks that had been created by him to fly straight into the air at his nephew. Kai saw the flying stones that were heading towards him and started to panic slightly. The rocks reached him while he was in mid-air, thus forcing him to whack them away from him with his Zanbatō's blunt side.

This action continued for nearly thirty seconds, as Kai continued to whack the stones away while he also silently cursed himself for jumping really high up off the ground. Kai landed on the ground – eventually, and found he was slipping. When he looked down he saw that his uncle had transformed the solid ground into a mud and grass river, while was still in that same position that he had been since he first created that quake of his.

That was it as far as Kai was concerned…he wasn't holding back any longer.

Kai threw his Zanbatō at his uncle, and Nawaki did just as he had predicted…he did not move an inch, instead he rose an earth wall from the ground to protect him. The Zanbatō hit the earth wall and pierced it slightly. But Kai was not worried; the time that it would take the wall to crumble would suffice for what he had planned.

Kai sped through a string of hand seals before he finished off with the ram seal and said, "Doton: Chidokaku (Earth Style: Mobile Core)!"

Nawaki, who had not seen his nephew's hand seals, nor hear what his nephew uttered, was thrown off course when the ground moved up into the sky, or at least the piece that he stood on. Before Nawaki knew what was going on he heard his nephew say, "Mokuton: Daijurin no Jutsu (Wood Style: Great Forest Technique)!" and a second later he was ensnared by wooden tentacles that sprung from his nephew's right arm.

"You lose." Kai said, before he pulled his uncle off the piece of earth that was ten feet in to the air and brought him down to the ground head first, making Nawaki smash his head into the ground. Nawaki stayed still for second as his upside down body twitched briefly, before he turned into mud, revealing himself to be a clone.

The real Nawaki jumped up from underneath the now slightly hard mud river that he had created before he flung a stone spike he created out of nothing right at Kai. Kai saw it just in time before he substituted with his Zanbatō, which was now on the ground due to the fact that the earth wall had crumbled. Nawaki's stone spike hit the blade, while the blade's owner spat out a torrent of water, hoping to catch his uncle from behind. Sadly though, Nawaki was not regarded as the best Doton user ever for no reason, as Kai watched the mud river re-awaken, but this time it acted as a shield for his uncle, who had not even turned in order to intercept his Mizurappa with the mud river, which had risen from the ground and acted as an mud tidal wave. Kai cursed his luck.

In terms of skill, his uncle was probably the strongest Senju alive today. Not even his mother, who was the current head of the clan, was as strong as his uncle. His uncle was truly a gifted individual, with a mastery over Doton so great that it was compared to his great grand-uncle Tobirama's Suiton mastery.

"What's wrong?" Nawaki asked evenly, having finally turned around and let the mud river stop since the Mizurappa had also been stopped, "You look flustered." He continued with the same tone.

"Be careful I might actually think you want me to quit." Kai said.

Nawaki just grinned at his nephew before he held up the snake hand seal and watched as the ground shook slightly, before a pair of giant hands came up from the ground on either side of his nephew and made a clapping motion, hoping to crush him. The hands managed to clasp together and shattered at the same time, but once the debris was gone all that was left was nothing…nothing at all.

Nawaki strained his senses as he tried to gauge out where his nephew could be. He was by no means a sensor, but after having fought through the many battles he has been forced to go through, well it was safe to say that he had picked up a thing or two about finding his opponents even if they hid from him.

Suddenly the ground rumbled, causing Nawaki to stumble as he tried to find his footing, before he heard his nephew's muffled voice say, "Mokuton: Jukai Kotan ( Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence)!"

Almost immediately gigantic roots sprung up from the ground, before they dived back into the ground, before they came back out again and headed straight for Nawaki.

'Shit!' Nawaki thought to himself as he watched one of his grandfather's most prized techniques in action. For his nephew to perform this technique, it meant that he had truly matured into a powerful shinobi.

The roots continued to edge on closer to Nawaki, but before they could crush him, he held the snake hand seal again and said, "Iwa no Goremu (Stone Golem)." Almost immediately, right from underneath Nawaki rose a giant stone golem, true to its namesake, that was taller than even the tallest roots and trees created by the Jukai Kotan.

Nawaki watched on with keen eyes on top of his golem's head as his nephew produced a truly frightening jutsu…the ability to turn any terrain into a forest in an instant, truly one of the best jutsu ever created. Suddenly Nawaki saw that one of the roots were carrying something on them, and when he looked on closer he discovered that the root was carrying his nephew, who was huffing a great deal from producing the Jukai Kotan on such a large scale.

Nawaki then realised that his nephew must have escaped his previous jutsu by slipping into the ground, and the reason why his voice was so muffled was because he had launched the Jukai Kotan from underneath the ground. The roots finally stopped growing out of the ground a few seconds later, and Kai dropped his hands down to his sides as he continued to hyperventilate.

"Tired already?" Nawaki said mockingly. Kai just glared at him while he continued to huff from overexertion.

"What…ever. At…least I forced…you to…use an A-rank jutsu." Kai said, hyperventilating in between. His uncle was notoriously god with Doton ninjutsu to the point where he could conjure up any jutsu that was B-rank or lower without weaving a single hand seal.

"Well, I will give you this, you are as good as I have heard people say you are…but you still have a long way to go, gaki." Nawaki said with pride, evidently not lying about being proud of Kai's strength. Being the first natural born Mokuton wielder since Senju Hashirama meant that Kai had a lot of expectations to fill, and from the way things were from their spar, Nawaki was sure that he was on his way there.

Nawaki proceeded to hold up the ram seal again, watching on as Kai watched him in curiosity. Nawaki's golem proceeded to stab its hand into the ground, and a few seconds later it produced what looked like a giant katana made out of earth.

Kai watched on in a mixture of wonder and horror as Nawaki's stone golem started hacking the giant roots that Kai had produced. It hacked the roots and trees in such a slow manner. It might have been slow, but it had a lot of power behind it. It continued to do so for a few more seconds before a green blur came flying out of nowhere and impacted on the giant golem. The golem stood stock still for a second before it started crumbling into pieces, forcing Nawaki to jump off it and land on one of the giant roots he had cut.

The golem completely shattered once Nawaki no longer stood on it, giving it chakra so that it could sustain itself. It would have been pointless anyway since the person who impacted with the golem was notorious for breaking things. The dust settled soon after, and Nawaki and Kai bore witness to the form of Kai's mother, the current Senju clan head and the strongest Kunoichi alive, Senju Tsunade.

The look she had on her face was not a good one as far as Nawaki and Kai were concerned.

"Kaa-san/Nee-chan." Nawaki and Kai exclaimed together at the same time.

Tsunade looked at the two men with unbridled anger at what she considered as utter stupidity on their part.

"What are you two idiots doing?" Tsunade asked in a tone that was seething in anger.

"Um, training." Kai said meekly.

"Training? You call destroying a training ground training? Were you two idiots looking to recreate the Valley of the end, but in our back yard?" Tsunade screamed in rage. Honestly, these two eggheads did not know the meaning of a peaceful morning. Their training session woke up the entire Senju clan that was in this stronghold.

Nawaki and Kai had the decency to look sheepish over the fact that their spar ended up destroying their clan's training ground.

"I don't know why you're complaining sis, since we can just rebuild it by the end of the day thanks to my Doton, and the kid's Mokuton." Nawaki said more to himself than to anyone else, but Tsunade still heard what he said.

A tick mark appeared on her forehead, but just as she was about to say something, a brown haired girl wearing a black Kimono appeared and she said, "Tsunade-sama, the council has been called and you requested to attend the meeting."

Tsunade's anger at Nawaki and her son deflated as she was hit with this information. She sighed inwardly, but outwardly she said, "Alright Shizune, I'm on my way."

Shizune just bowed before she looked at Nawaki and a small blush appeared on her face before she disappeared. Nawaki had seen the blush on her face and inwardly smiled. Damn, he must have been good if he could make someone like Shizune blush. The girl was a case of stone cold, but if he managed to make her blush like that, then the night of passion that they had a week ago must have been truly amazing for her just as it was for him.

Tsunade looked at her brother and son, having not noticed Shizune's blush, and said, "We'll continue this later." before she walked away.

Once she was gone, both Nawaki and Kai let out a sigh of relief.

"Man that was close." Kai said in relief.

"Meh, it was, wasn't it…but anyway let's go get cleaned up, we're supposed to be leaving this strong hold in a few days and head back to the main base so that we can finish prepping for the journey ahead." Nawaki said

"Hai." replied Kai, before he leapt off the root he had been standing on and proceeded to go in the direction of the bath house.

Nawaki looked at Kai's retreating form and just silently shook his head; His nephew had a lot of pressure on his shoulders. He was the great grandson of Senju Hashirama. That in itself places a lot of pressure on someone, and Nawaki knew that from personal experience. In truth, he worked well under pressure, you could say that it was one of the catalysts that made him what he was today, the strongest Senju alive.

His nephew though on the other hand was not like him. His nephew cracked under pressure. Nawaki knew from stories his parents used to tell him about his grandfather that by this age the man was already regarded as one of the strongest shinobi ever. At the current age that Kai was in, he was not on the same level as Hashirama.

Kai was like with the leader of the Uzumaki clan, Nagato. Just like Nagato, Kai wielded a legendary kekkei genkai…both have a lot of pressure on them to live up to their predecessors achievements, but sadly they were both falling short of being able to even achieve a similar greatness as their predecessors.

Still, there was nothing that he could do…he had trained the kid to the best of his abilities, and while he was undoubtedly strong, he was not at the level that was expected of him.

Nawaki turned away from where his nephew had disappeared off into and started walking back to the stronghold.

**Senju Clan Council Meeting Hall**

Tsunade entered this stronghold's clan council meeting chambers and was immediately greeted by the entirety of her clan's council already assembled, well almost the entirety of her clan. There was one person missing. Her clan's council was made up of eight people. The first three were the clan's elders, followed by her and her brother, before it was her husband, Dan and two of her relatives, Sora and Nemu.

As soon as Tsunade sat down on her chair, her brother entered the chambers as well and took his seat as well.

"Alright, let's get this underway. What is it that the council wishes to discuss?" Tsunade asked irritably.

"Well," said a Senju elder, "as I am sure you all remember our relatives the Uzumaki were attacked by the Kyuubi twelve years ago."

"Yes, and Minato Namikaze and his wife Kushina died sealing the beast inside their new born child." Spoke Nemu, who had facial features, and an attitude, similar to one of the greatest Senju ever, Tobirama.

"Yes…" the elder said, "well this meeting has been called because of this boy."

This grabbed the attention of everyone that was in the room, Nawaki included, since he never paid attention to clan meetings this was a rarity.

"Wait, are you saying what I think you are saying, elder Daisuke?" Tsunade asked with slightly wide eyes.

"Yes, Tsunade…the boy that has not been seen for twelve years has finally emerged." The elder said.

"Where? How?" Tsunade asked.

"Calm down, Tsunade." Her husband, Dan, said, "Let elder Daisuke explain what he knows."

Tsunade relented and chose to let the elder speak once again.

"Well in order for you to gain the same level of understanding as I have gained, you will have to hear this straight from the same person that informed me of this…" Daisuke said, before he finished off by saying, "Tenzō."

Almost immediately a shinobi that had brown hair, black almond shaped eyes and a face mask similar to the one that Tobirama Senju once wore appeared at the foot of the clan's council table, in a kneeling position.

Tsunade looked on at the man that was discovered by the Senju clan during a raid on one of the Shiroi Hebi clan's bases. Back then he was just a little by, but thanks to the fact that the Shiroi Hebi clan were experimenting on him, he had Senju DNA in him…but not just any Senju DNA, but Senju Hashirama's. According to a few records that they found in the clan's laboratory, they had been secretly trying to make Mokuton users, and apparently Tenzō was the only one to survive the experimentation.

The Senju. Though appalled by the fact that their greatest clan member's DNA was used to try and replicate an army of those with his abilities, took Tenzō and made him one of their own. Tenzō, although quite skilled as a shinobi, was nowhere near the level of their greatest descendant, Senju Hashirama.

Tsunade was broken out of her reverie by Tenzō clearing his throat before he said, "Honourable council, I have been requested to tell you the details of what I know about Minato Namikaze's son…well the first thing is that his name is Naruto."

"Naruto?" Dan said in slight surprise at the unusual name.

"Yes, Naruto." Tenzō replied, "From the information that I gathered he is twelve years old and bares a stark resemblance to his father."

The others nodded their heads before Nawaki said, "How did you come across this information?"

"I came across the information while passing by Kaze no Kuni around a three days ago after a mission I had just completed in Kaminari no Kuni. I entered a restaurant where there were very little people inside. After placing, and waiting for my order to arrive, I managed to overhear some people talking about a boy that could defeat bijuu. At first I thought it was just some made up story, but as I listened I managed to pick up a few things."

"And what were those things?" Nemu asked in his cold tone.

"Well, according to the men that were talking, two kids had been travelling around Kaze no Kuni for a few days before they settled in at a Sabaku villa. They hadn't even spent a day there before they were suddenly attacked by the Ichibi no Shukaku." Tenzō said.

Tenzō's words drew gasps from a few people around the council chamber.

"Wait, are you saying that the kids were attacked by Ichibi…as in it was after them?" asked Tsunade.

"No, the Ichibi just attacked the villa. Apparently it got wind that the head of the Sabaku family was out of the country and then it decided to go on a rampage." Tenzō said.

"Lemme guess, one of those kids is this kid that has got every clan in the world shitting themselves?" Nawaki asked.

"Yes. Apparently one of the kids was fearless enough to take on and defeat the Ichibi all on his own." Tenzō said.

"So this kid is strong enough to defeat a bijuu at just the age of twelve…no wonder you guys want him dead." Nawaki said in a joking manner.

"This is not a joke, Nawaki." Nemu said in a chiding manner, "This is serious. If the boy can already use the Kyuubi's powers this well at such a young age then once he reaches full maturity, he would be too strong for any single clan to bring down…us included."

"That is where you are wrong, Nemu-sama." Tenzō said.

"Oh," Nemu said in a manner that showed that he did not like being told that he was wrong, "and how so?"

"Well I managed to worm my way into their conversation and when I talked with them there was no mention of bijuu chakra; they said that the boy was said to be able to summon a giant toad." Tenzō replied to Nemu's question.

"Did you just say…giant toad?" Dan asked, clearly shocked by something.

"Yes. They said that he was able to summon a toad that helped him take on the Ichibi, and beat it when it was in home territory." Tenzō said.

This made Dan unconsciously clench his fist as he contemplated exactly what this information meant to him.

"So the boy did not really beat the Ichibi…his summon did it for him." another elder said.

"That is what I originally thought as well, but apparently the boy did more than summon the toad. The two men said that the boy was able to execute well-timed and very lethal combination attacks that had the Ichibi on the back foot on many occasions during their battle." Tenzō stated.

"Well, so he can't use the kyuubi's chakra, right?" an elder asked hopefully.

"I don't know if he can't, but he didn't. The two men said that he was able to produce wind blades big enough to sever Shukaku's limbs and he was seen as being able to extend his hair." Tenzō explained.

Before Nawaki could speak, Tsunade intervened, "Don't you see what this means?"

"Don't we see what, 'what' means, sis?" Nawaki asked, clearly confused.

"He can summon toads…that alone should be enough to tell you about who trained him. Also, for those of us who know who is associated with toads will know that the boy's father was a toad summoner himself." Tsunade said.

"Wait…you don't mean…?" Sora asked, speaking for the first time.

"I mean exactly as you suspect, Sora. The boy was trained by Jiraiya. While I detest the man, I cannot deny that he is a brilliant shinobi, and a goddamn good trainer…I mean look at what happened with his first two students. One became a clan head while the gained the title of Kami no Shinobi." Tsunade said, but Dan could tell that she was lying about the detest part.

This immediately made everybody that had not figured out what was going on have bulged eyes, and not only that, but it also made a few understand why Dan had a look of hatred in his eyes right now.

Dan hated Jiraiya with passion. Why? That's because Jiraiya was the one that had Tsunade's heart. The Kato family were one of the most powerful shinobi families that resided in Hi no Kuni. Their rivals were the shinobi of the Hatake family. The Kato family had developed a deadly ninjutsu that brought them notoriety. The Senju, in hopes of gaining this deadly jutsu and make it their own, arranged for the eldest grandchild of Senju Hashirama to marry the eldest son of the family head.

The Kato family were said to merge with the Senju clan, and thus the Senju gained a deadly jutsu, and the Kato family gained a seat in the Senju clan's council, which was the seat that Dan occupied right now.

Tsunade back then was rebellious. A thirteen year old Tsunade ran away from her clan one day in hopes of running away from her fate. She came upon two young shinobi that travelled together that were looking for a man that was known as "The Professor" in hopes of him teaching them. Tsunade hid her true identity from the two young men and offered to help them allocate the one they called "The Professor". They travelled together for many years and learned different things along the way, all the while Tsunade stayed hidden under the radar. During the years in which she travelled with the two young men, she ended up falling in love with one of them.

The one that she fell for was called Jiraiya. Just before the trio turned sixteen, they finally came across, and managed to make the one known as the Professor train them for two years. Unfortunately for them someone was able to decipher who Tsunade was, and thus they managed to report her location to her clan, and thus the clan was able to find her.

The clan tried to forcefully take her away, but the duo that she had been travelling with fought the Senju clan members, Jiraiya especially, with everything that they had. Eventually Senju Tobirama, the one who lead the clan at the time and had proposed the arranged marriage, intervened and kicked their asses using the Hiraishin no jutsu, before he threatened Tsunade with their deaths if she did not return to her clan.

Looking to spare Jiraiya's life, she agreed succumbed to her uncle's will.

Tsunade and Dan managed to get married three years later, but Dan could tell that no matter what he did or how much he tried, he would never have Tsunade's heart.

The years that followed were that of a one sided romance between Dan and Tsunade. Every time Jiraiya's name was mentioned in passing in front of Tsunade, Dan saw that the life in her would spark just for a little bit before it finally diminished.

A few years later Jiraiya was discovered on Senju territory. It was shortly after Senju Tobirama's death. The man had stolen Tobirama's most prized jutsu, the Hiraishin no Jutsu, in hopes of being able to use it himself. He said that he stole it as a screw you to the man that had cost him the love of his life.

For a few weeks after that everything went back to normal, before Tsunade spoke to Dan one day and told him the truth. The truth was that she was pregnant, but the baby was not his, but it was actually Jiraiya's. Apparently before Jiraiya stole the Hiraishin no Jutsu, he was able to communicate with Tsunade, where after a short conversation, they ended up making love.

The child that referred to Dan as father was not really his son, it was Jiraiya's, and while he loved Kai as if he were his own flesh and blood, he could not help but hate Jiraiya for stealing Tsunade's heart away from him. The truth about Kai's parentage is only known by the only those that were in the council chambers at that particular moment, well, except Tenzō.

Speaking of the council…

"This is truly serious…the boy must be stopped now." Sora said.

"Indeed…"Daisuke said, "which is why I suggest that we send a team to capture the boy and bring him here so that the extraction of the Kyuubi may occur."

"Yeah, well what if he decides to unleash the Kyuubi upon us." Nemu asked coolly.

"Well, that is where Tenzō and Kai come into play…they both know how to use Hashirama-sama's bijuu subjugating technique. So that is why I suggest that they both go on this mission." Daisuke said.

"That's understandable…but Kai is inexperienced with abduction missions, and while Tenzō has gone on a few, he won't be able to control Kai during this mission, considering Kai's brash attitude towards Tenzō." Nawaki said in a serious manner.

The other members nodded their heads in agreement with Nawaki. It was a well-known fact that while Kai was good to most people, he did not get along with Tenzō due to the fact that he felt that Tenzō was an abomination and should not serve the Senju clan, despite having Senju DNA in him.

"Well, that is where you come in, Nawaki." Daisuke said, "It is a widely known fact that Kai respects and looks up to you more than any besides his parents. Not only that but you are stronger than both Kai and Tenzō…in fact you are the third strongest shinobi our clan has ever produced…plus you have the experience, so you would lead this mission." Daisuke finished off.

"Wow, you truly thought this through, huh, you old coot." Nawaki said teasingly.

Daisuke said nothing as he felt offended by what Nawaki had just said.

"So many heavy hitters just for an abduction mission where the target is a twelve year old boy…" Nemu said, "are you sure that is wise."

"It is when you consider the fact that the boy is the first Jinchuriki ever heard off." Daisuke said.

"I agree…" Tsunade said out loud, "My son, my brother and Tenzō shall go on this mission. Their objective will be to hunt the Kyuubi Jinchuriki down."

"And what happens if the boy doesn't wanna come, or can't be brought back for extraction?" Nawaki asked.

"Then, the boy, and anyone with him are to be killed."

**Main Uchiha Clan Stronghold – Hi no Kuni**

A young fair-skinned boy that had onyx eyes and black chin-length hair was currently standing in the middle of a training field. The young boy had hair that was spiky at the back. He had bangs that hung above his eyes. His choice of wear was a navy-blue, short sleeved shirt that had a high collar and the infamous Uchiha crest on the back. He also wore a pair of white arm warmers and a pair of white shorts.

The boy was currently standing in a small space that was surrounded by trees and a rock in the middle. The trees had a bulls-eye on them each, and there was one bulls-eye that was hidden behind a rock. The boy had his eyes closed as he calmly breathed in the atmosphere that surrounded him. It was peaceful; it made him feel like he could do anything.

His eye then snapped open to reveal a pair of Sharingan, with the left eye having two tomoe while the right eye had one tomoe. The boy then jumped into the air and spun upside down while he produced four kunai in each hand, before he threw three kunai from each hand at the surrounding targets before he threw the last two as well. The last two hit a kunai each, redirecting its course before they all struck their targets just as the boy landed down on the ground.

Suddenly there was clapping behind him, and the boy found that he was being watched by three individuals that all had approving smiles on their faces.

The first was a man that had black hair that was tied into a ponytail. The man had black eyes and he had two long tear troughs on his face. He wore simple grey pants with a navy-blue t-shirt and a pair of blue sandals with white bandages wrapped around his ankles. around his ankles,It was his brother, Uchiha Itachi.

The second person was also a man, one that had dark hair, a broad nose and well defined eyelashes. The man wore the standard attire of the Uchiha clan which included a high-collard, dark coloured top with matching pants along with a tantō strapped to the right shoulder, while the harness for the tantō ran across his chest and fastened over both his shoulders. This man was known as the greatest genjutsu user to come out of the Uchiha clan over the last fifty years, his name was Uchiha Shisui.

The third person was a woman that had fair skin along with black hair that had bangs that hung on either side of her face to roughly frame her cheeks and she also had a pair of black eyes. She was wearing a simple red-plum skirt and a light-yellow apron worn over it, with a dark purple blouse to finish off a look that screamed 'housewife'. This was his mother, Mikoto Uchiha.

"Well done, Sasuke." Itachi said proudly to his little brother, "You have finally mastered that accuracy exercise."

"Yeah well having the Sharingan makes it easier than before." Sasuke said proudly.

"Well it was meant for Sharingan users only." Shisui joined in, also wearing a smile on his face.

"Maybe now you two can teach him some of the genjutsu that have made you so notorious throughout the world." Mikoto said with a sly smile.

Sasuke immediately nodded his head in agreement with what his mother said. When it came to the shinobi arts, Sasuke just could not wait to learn new things daily. It was one of the reasons why he was better than all of his other clan members that were in his age group.

"Maybe another time, Kaa-san." Itachi said, immediately deflating Sasuke's mood.

"Aww, why not now, nii-san?" Sasuke whined.

"Because…" Itachi never got to finish his statement because a member of their clan appeared out of nowhere, disturbing their conversation.

"Uchiha Sasuke, your presence has been requested by Fugaku-sama." The man said in a monotone voice, after having bowed down respectively.

"Tou-san?" was all Sasuke could say to himself.

"Sasuke, I would hurry if I were you." His mother said in a gentle tone.

Sasuke nodded his head and quickly left the training are and headed towards his father's office.

Upon entering his father's office, Sasuke was greeted by the sight of two Uchiha that stood behind his father with their hands folded behind their backs while his father sat at his office desk.

"Welcome, Sasuke." Fugaku said.

"Tou-san." Sasuke replied.

"Sasuke I have called for you today because I have a solo mission that I want you to accomplish." Fugaku said.

"What is it? Another C-rank mission?" Sasuke asked dejectedly. His father never truly sent him on any good missions. How was he expected to develop into a fine shinobi without missions that tested his strength? The only good mission he had been on was the one that had a huge impact on him…it was the mission where he was written into Uchiha folk law as one of the few shinobi to have ever unlocked the Sharingan.

"No." Fugaku said, shocking Sasuke, "the mission, should you choose to accept it, will be an A-rank mission." Fugaku said with a serious face.

"What?!" Sasuke said in clear shock.

"You heard me…" Fugaku said coldly. Didn't the man realise that he was talking with his son?

"W-what does the mission entail?" Sasuke said.

"Well, the mission is a capture mission." Fugaku said, before he took out a picture and placed it in front of Sasuke.

"Who is he?" Sasuke asked.

"His name is Naruto, and he is your target." Fugaku said to Sasuke.

Sasuke looked at his father, and then back at the rough shot of the boy that was eating a popsicle next to a pink haired girl. Sasuke wondered exact what this boy was if his father thought of him as an A-rank threat…but then again it did not matter. All that mattered was the fact that his father thought of him as an A-rank threat, and if he was strong enough to be thought as such by his father, then he would be a worthy advisory.

"I accept." Sasuke said, before he turned and walked out of the office looking to prepare for his mission.

As soon as Sasuke left, Fugaku turned to one of the men behind him and said, "Go prepare for your mission, you know what it is."

"Yes, it's to shadow your son, Fugaku-sama, and see how he fares against the jinchuriki, and once I have deemed the information gathered to be enough, I will capture the Jinchuriki boy so that he may be brought to you so you can make him and the Kyuubi serve our clan."

Fugaku just nodded his head and watched as the man he tasked with shadowing Sasuke disappear into the shadows so that he could prepare for his mission.

**Uzushiogakure no Sato **

A man stood in his office, looking over the village he had been tasked to lead over two decades ago. While many would say that he has done a pretty good job in leading his village, he would argue that it was not good enough. Why would he say that? It's simple. He felt that as long as he could not save the woman he had truly loved, he had not done enough. He had watched on during that fateful day as the woman he cared for deeply lost her life in front of his eyes.

The woman had asked him to look out for her son, or to at least hand him over to his godfather. He had done as asked of him by the woman, but he was also the leader of the Uzumaki clan and the entirety of Uzu no Kuni, and as such he had laws to abide by. While he had broken a few on the day that he handed the jinchuriki over to his godfather, Nagato had to follow protocol, and as such he had to do what should have been done twelve years ago, and that was to kill the boy.

Senju Hashirama and his wife Uzumaki Mito had come up with the no jinchuriki law. Nagato had previously found it strange that jinchuriki were to be forbidden, but he did not bother to do anything about the matter. Up until a few weeks ago Nagato had not bothered to question this law, but one day a thought crept into his mind. Why were jinchuriki so taboo? This thought plagued him for weeks on end up until he finally decided to personally investigate why.

Nagato did not believe it was the whole "Jinchuriki upset the established power order" thing. There was something else to this and Nagato knew it…he could feel it with him. Unfortunately though there was nothing that he found that was concrete enough as to provide a valuable reason as to why jinchuriki are forbidden.

Well not until now that is. If there was anyone who knew exactly why jinchuriki were declared taboo by Hashirama and Mito, then it was the one individual that was alive during the time of Senju Hashirama and was old enough to know how politics worked.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

That must be the person that Nagato was waiting for, the one who Nagato deemed to know the truth. The oldest person in the world, Uzumaki Rohan.

"Come in." Nagato said without turning around to face the door.

The door to Nagato's office opened and in stepped a man that wore a white robe over a pair of white pants and a black kimono top. The man also wore a pair of wooden geta sandals on his feet. The man looked really old…he looked like he was in his seventies or eighties, but he was in fact much older than that. He was one hundred and thirty three years old.

The man shut the door and watched as Nagato turned slowly to face him with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Oji-sama." Nagato said, welcoming the old man to his office.

"Nagato-kun…how are you?" Rohan said.

"I'm fine, Rohan-sama…please have a seat." Nagato said respectfully.

Rohan nodded his head and watched on as Nagato took his seat on the other side of the office desk before he too sat down in the offered chair.

"So, what did you wish to speak to me about?" Rohan asked Nagato.

Nagato did not say anything first as he just raised his right hand and formed a one handed ram seal and made the room's walls glow a bright yellow and fuin shiki appeared all over them.

Rohan looked on as the walls slowly dimed down before he said, "If you are sound proofing the room than this must be very serious, huh Nagato-kun."

"It is ojii-sama." Nagato replied.

"Alright, what did you wish to speak with me about?" Rohan asked again.

"I would like to know the truth." Nagato said calmly.

"The truth, huh? Well what truth are you searching for exactly?" Rohan asked in a sagely manner.

"The truth about jinchuriki. Why are they so taboo to this world? We both know the truth about the Rikudō Sennin being the first jinchuriki in history, and the kind of power he wielded, but I want to know exactly why they are forbidden, as I don't really buy into the whole 'balance of power' thing?" Nagato asked his elder.

Rohan looked at Nagato intently for a small while before he shut his eyes and thought about what to say before he decidedly said, "Jinchuriki, huh? Well I was wondering if I could keep this secret and take it to the grave with me but it seems that it is not possible. You are smart, Nagato…the Uzumaki clan has thrived under your leadership over the past two decades, and I hope that whoever you choose to supersede you will be even half the good leader you are."

Rohan stopped there and chose to shut his eyes as if thinking about what to say, while Nagato just looked on at the old man intently. Rohan opened his eyes again and said, "I know why you want to know about the truth behind jinchuriki being taboo. It's because of Kushina's son, right?"

Nagato was calm on the outside, but on the inside he jumped a little. He seriously hoped that Rohan was not implying what he thought he implied.

"I know about what you did that day, Nagato…you were the only one who could get the boy off the island undetected by even our clan's strongest sensory shinobi…but not an old goat like me."

And there it was…Nagato's fears were answered. It seems that Rohan did know about the code he broke in order to appease the promise he made to Kushina.

"Relax…it's nothing to be ashamed off. In fact I am proud of you. Other clan heads would have simply killed the boy just so that they could keep the balance of power as it was, which would not really bring change to this world. You sparing the boy's life showed just how much you cared for Kushina and it also helped you keep your humanity…so be proud of what you did, Nagato." Rohan said.

Nagato could not help smile slightly at the praise that the former head of the clan was giving him. Still though, they had dance around the issue long enough.

"Thank you for the praise, but you still have not answered my question." Nagato said, his face regaining the unreadable expression it had before.

"Alright…" Rohan said in what sounded like defeat, "as you know Senju Hashirama and his wife Uzumaki Mito created the law that made jinchuriki forbidden beings that were to either be captured and have their bijuu extracted, or in a worst case scenario, they were to be killed. The reasons they used to support this law that they made forced the other clans to agree to it. That, and they also feared Hashirama's power."

Rohan stopped there for a few seconds, letting things sink into Nagato's head, before he continue by saying, "The law made it so that if any clan even attempted to create their own jinchuriki, they were to be systematically wiped out by every other clan. Not even the Senju clan can take on every ninja clan at once, and he knew it…well he knew that as long as he was not there, then even his clan would be wiped out. Anyway the reason of the balance of power being disturbed is true, but it is not the type of power that you think a jinchuriki brings to a clan that would destabilise the established order."

Nagato looked at his elder before he said, "If it isn't physical might, then what is it that a jinchuriki has that could cause a rupture in the balance of power?"

Rohan sighed inwardly before he said, "In order to understand the truth about the type of power a jinchuriki brings, you first need to understand the truth about the amount of jinchuriki that have graced the earth."

"The amount?" Nagato asked, clearly perplexed.

"Yes, the amount. What I am about to tell you is a secret that was only know by a small handful of people, all of which are dead, besides me." Rohan said.

"What is it, Ojii-sama?" Nagato asked.

"Do you remember the battle that occurred between Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara at the place that the world now calls the_ Valley of the end_?"

"Hai…I do." Nagato replied.

"Well the battle that occurred there was a titanic battle between the two strongest beings this world has seen since the times of the Rikudō Sennin. During the battle between these two great beings, one of them summoned another great being to help him during the battle. Do you know what I am talking about, Nagato?"

"Yes, you're talking about how Uchiha Madara summoned the Kyuubi to fight the legendary Senju clan head." Nagato answered.

"That's right…and Hashirama proved during that battle that he was the stronger of the two when he defeated both the Kyuubi and Madara." Rohan said.

"Yes, I know that much, Ojii-sama." Nagato said.

"Yes, everyone knows that much. But the select few of us who are privy to the world's dirty secrets also know about what happened after the battle. We know the truth about how the Kyuubi was defeated and tamed by Hashirama." Rohan said sagely, again.

"And what is that truth, Ojii-sama?" Nagato asked.

"It is the truth about how the world was given birth to the first jinchuriki in centuries." Rohan replied seriously.

"Wait…are you saying that Hashirama sealed the beast within himself in the same way that the Rikudō Sennin sealed the-"

"No. Hashirama did not seal the Kyuubi within himself." Rohan said, cutting in, "It was your great ancestor Mito that did that."

Rohan's words shocked Nagato greatly. So Mito Uzumaki was a jinchuriki…and a jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no less.

"Why though? Why still create the law if one of them was a jinchuriki?" Nagato asked.

"The law was created because of the fact that Mito and Hashirama discovered the truth about another legend thanks to Mito being a Jinchuriki." Rohan said.

"What legend is that?" Nagato asked.

"The legend of the Dragonballs." Rohan said.

"Bullshit…something like that does not exist." Nagato replied abruptly. He knew the legend that surrounded the Dragonballs, and he also knew about the power they brought, but he just could not believe it to be real.

"Oh, but it is, Nagato-kun." Rohan replied with a slightly amused expression on his face.

There was silence in the room as Nagato chose to keep quiet and process things while Rohan just silently watched him do so. Eventually Nagato looked at the old man and asked, "Let's just say that this legend is true…what does it have to do with the bijuu or more specifically, Jinchuriki?"

"Well, Nagato-kun," Rohan said with a smile on his face, "the reason behind that was discovered by Mito during a conversation she held with the beast within her. According to Mito, she one day woke up and discovered a nine star Dragonball lying next to her in her bed. She was forced to communicate with the Kyuubi, and although it was reluctant at first, the beast finally told her the truth…the truth about how the Rikudō Sennin had made it, along with the eight other bijuu guardians of the Dragonballs shortly after creating them. According to the Kyuubi, the nine bijuu were tasked to protect the Dragonballs so that no one unworthy should use them. Unfortunately for the Kyuubi he ended up getting sealed into her, and because of that the task of guarding the nine star ball now fell to Mito since he was sealed inside her." Rohan said, stopping to read Nagato's expression of shock at the information, before understanding settled in a few minutes later.

"I get it now." Nagato said, "The reason behind Mito-sama and Hashirama making that law was because of the fact that if clans discovered the truth about the Dragonballs being real, and how they would be able to attain their power through the creation of jinchuriki, there would be a blood bath between the clans."

Rohan just nodded his head, thus proving Nagato's guess to be correct.

"So in order to avoid potential clan genocide, Hashirama and Mito-sama made it so that Jinchuriki were to be hunted and killed. Physical might that jinchuriki bring to their clan is nothing compared to the power all nine balls would bring to them."

"Precisely." Rohan said with a smile on his face.

Nagato kept quiet and thought things through. If this was truly the reason behind jinchuriki being taboo, then that would mean that Naruto was the new guardian of the Dragonball that was supposed to be guarded by the Kyuubi.

Wait.

"What happened to the Kyuubi after Mito-sama died?" Nagato asked.

"Oh, I guess I forgot to tell you about that, huh…well, towards the later stages of Mito-sama's life a new host for the Kyuubi was searched for. It took years to pin down the correct person, but once we did the Kyuubi was secretly put in her." Rohan said.

"Her?" Nagato asked.

"Yes, her…you know her, you know who she is…or at least you did before she was killed by the Kyuubi itself." Rohan said.

Nagato thought about it for a few seconds before it sunk in as to whom Rohan was talking about, "Yes, that's right Nagato-kun," Rohan said once he saw the look of understanding dawn on Nagato's face, "It is the woman you once loved…Uzumaki Kushina."

Nagato's mouth dropped a few inches as the shock of it all hit him. The woman he loved for his entire life, the same one that he fought for and would have died protecting, was a jinchuriki. This was too much for him to handle. After a few moments Nagato looked at the old man and said, "Rohan-sama…could you please excuse me. I need some time to think things through."

"Very well, Nagato-kun. I shall leave you to it." Rohan said standing up and leaving the semi-distraught leader of the Uzumaki clan to his own devices.

**Unknown Location**

A man was currently walking down a dark tunnel that was located underground. The man walked with a walking stick to support him. It made an audible clang every time he took a step. He appeared as a frail old man that had shaggy black hair, a bandaged right eye and an 'x' shaped scar on his chin. He wore a white shirt with a dark grey robe over the top from his right shoulder down to his feet.

The man walked through the corridor of the underground location until he came upon a normal looking wooden door. The door was then opened by the old man as he entered into the room that the door concealed. The room was not necessarily a room, but an office which belonged to the man.

The office was just as dark as the corridor, with the only light in the office being the one that was illuminating out of the lamp that was on top of a desk.

The man walked over to the chair that was on the other side of the desk and sat down on it. He then put his cane to the side before he opened a drawer and pulled out a picture that was in it. It was a picture of a blonde boy next to a pink haired girl, and the picture was taken by border patrol.

After looking keenly at the picture, the man then said, "Torune, Fu."

Almost immediately two individuals made their presence known by appearing out of thin air and in a kneeling position in front of the old man. Both of these individuals were decked out in a pure black ensemble that included a pair of shinobi pants, a form fitting top and matching colour sandals. Their look was finished off with a tanto strapped to their right shoulder and a white porcelain mask.

"You called, Danzō-sama?" asked one of them in a deep, yet also emotionless tone.

"Indeed I did, Fu. I have a mission for you both." The man now recognised as Danzō replied. Danzō then pushed the picture he had on him down the table so that the two shinobi in front of him could see it.

"The boy is your target. His name is Naruto, and he is to be captured and brought to me." Danzō said coldly.

Torune and Fu were his best shinobi, in order for him to capture a jinchuriki, he would need the best.

Fu on the other hand had a question that he wanted to voice out, "Forgive me for asking, Danzō-sama, but what significance does this boy have?"

Danzō had of course expected Fu to ask, after all he was once part of a clan of shinobi that specialised in information gathering, so he was genetically programmed to be forever curious.

"The boy is the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko. He will be the perfect weapon for the Root programme, and with his power firmly under my control I can use it to take the Shimura clan to the top, just as I said I would all those years ago." Danzō said.

The two men just nodded at their leader before they disappeared.

Indeed that was a promise he had made to his clan all those years ago when he took over the clan as its leader. He had promised his clan that he would make them greater than the Senju, and he planned on keeping that promise.

When Danzō took over the Shimura clan nearly forty years ago, the Shimura clan were busy fighting for scraps with the Inuzuka, as he would put it. At the time the Inuzuka were their rivals. They were the only two clans in Ta no Kuni before the Shimura clan adopted and followed Danzō's methods of total eradication of their opponents, were able to finally triumph over the dog lovers and also successfully drive them out of the country.

The Inuzuka were now a bunch of nomads, they had nowhere to call home now thanks to what the Shimura clan did to them. After that Danzō proposed a new idea to his clan. The idea was widely accepted by the higher-ups of the Shimura clan, and that idea was to create a secret organisation that comprised main of non-Shimura clan members. Orphans created due to clan battles were taken in and given a home, or at least that is how Danzou put it.

The Shimura clan called this programme Root. Root were trained to serve the Shimura clan and help them achieve a place among the best of the best in the world. Root were the hidden dagger that the Shimura clan used to overpower their opponents. Root stayed in the shadows, never ever seeing the light. They were the roots that supported the great tree that was the Shimura clan.

While root were successful for a while, allowing the Shimura clan to win major battles and allow them to gain notoriety, when they faced clans that were part of the big five of the world, not even Root's hidden attacks were enough. Clans like the Yotsuki, Senju, Uchiha, Uzumaki and even the Sarutobi clan still proved too much for them.

So another idea was proposed…there's a saying that goes "if you can't beat them, join them", the Shimura clan took this saying and twisted it in to something more along the lines of "if you can't beat them, steal from them", and that is exactly what they have done. Root has stolen children from most of the prominent clans of the world. No one was safe. Yotsuki, Yamanaka, Nara, Aburame…you name the clan, and they got it…well all except for the big three.

The Uzumaki were pretty much impossible to steal from as their location, while known to the entire world, it was impossible to breach, unless if you had a space-time ninjutsu on you, but no one really knew that. The Uzumaki had the best sensors the world has ever produced, so even trying to get within one hundred feet of the island was impossible. The only clan that could go to the island was the Senju and no one else.

Speaking of the Senju, well they were similar to the Uzumaki in terms of sensing, except that they had a small handful of sensors. But the thing that made it truly impossible for them to try and steal a Senju-born child is the fact that the Senju were impossible to find. No one knew where they lived, and that is why stealing, or as Danzō puts it, re-procuring, from the Senju is impossible. They hid better than their rivals, the Uchiha.

Oh how Danzō yearned to have an Uchiha under his wing. Sadly though no one got everything they wished for, and Danzō's dream of attaining a Sharingan was just that, a dream. The Uchiha were a powerful clan, truly deserving of their status as one of the best. Uchiha have produced legendary shinobi that would make even Danzō think twice before facing them in battle. This was no truer than in the case of the strongest Uchiha ever, Uchiha Madara.

Madara was, and still is only, one of the two Uchiha to completely unlock the full power of the Sharingan. Madara and his brother Izuna discovered a power that only they could achieve. So as to assert themselves as the strongest among their clansmen, the two took the secret on how to attain the Mangekyō Sharingan with them to their graves.

Danzō would have loved to have a Mangekyō Sharingan on him. It would mean that he would have been able to subjugate any bijuu into doing his bidding, just like how Madara did when he faced off against the only shinobi that could face him in a one on one battle and win, Senju Hashirama. Despite Madara having the Kyuubi on his side, he still lost to Hashirama, and Hashirama took the Kyuubi and made it his. That was as far as Danzō knew.

Soon though, he would have a substitute in the form of a jinchuriki of the great beast. Then the world would truly be his for the taking. He would lead his clan to the greatness he promised them all those years ago.

**Tsuchi no Kuni Mountains**

Deep within Tsuchi no Kuni's deepest mountain range there was a secret base, the base belonged to the 'clan' known throughout the world as the Shiroi Hebi. The Shiroi Hebi was not so much a clan as they were a criminal organisation. They were made up of missing-nin or any ninja that sought power. They were led by a man that many of those that were part of this organisation referred to as the _Dai Shiroi Hebi _(Great White Snake).

The organisation has been around for a long time, and during that time they have done many things that have made them enemies to practically every clan in the world. The list of their offences is so long that one could right a book about it. They have pretty much wronged everyone, like wronging the Senju clan by raiding the secret burial place of their greatest shinobi and stealing his DNA in hopes of reproducing it to make an army, or kidnapping children from clans with rare kekkei genkai just to experiment on them. The list goes on and on.

The leader of this "great" organisation is said to be immortal. No one has ben able to kill him in battle. No one knows how he does it, but he just does it. The man is said to have fought against the likes of Senju Tsunade, Uzumaki Nagato and Jiraiya the toad sage, but he has managed to survive every time.

Many of the man's servants would willingly die for him within a heartbeat, and the person that was currently walking through the dark corridors of the secret base was one of them.

The man had onyx eyes and ash-grey hair, which was kept in a ponytail along with a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses. The young man wore a dark purple shirt that had a high collar, a white undershirt, and dark purple fingerless gloves with armoured plates at the back of the hand, a white waist band worn at an angle, dark purple pants, blue sandals and a shuriken holster on his right leg.

The man stopped in front of a pair of giant metallic doors and knocked. A second later a rather raspy voice said, "Come in, Kabuto-kun."

The man now recognised as Kabuto stepped into the room after the doors opened automatically, before they shut automatically again. The room that Kabuto had stepped into looked like it was a throne room than anything else. It had a lot of space, but nothing in it except for a bed that was at the far corner of the room and a throne that was located at the centre of the room that had a man sitting in it.

The man's visage was not visible to Kabuto due to the shadow that was cast in the room due to it only having minimal light. Still, Kabuto had no reason to worry, he was one of only few people to get a good look at his master on many occasions. Many of those that were part of the Shiroi Hebi did not even know what their master looked like. Ingrates.

Still, Kabuto had a report to deliver, but before he could do so the man that sat on the throne raised his arms whilst in the shadows and said, "Teshi Sendan (Ten-Finger Drilling bullets)!"

Kabuto did not even have the time needed to even think about moving as ten objects whizzed past him and hit the wall directly behind him. Kabuto turned his head towards the wall and saw that the objects that flew past him were white in colour. Before he could even wonder about what they were, the man on the throne spoke, "The Kaguya clan's kekkei genkai…what do you think?"

"I think it will serve you well, my lord." Kabuto said after turning around to face the man on the throne.

"I hope so too. Maybe I can use this as my hidden ace next time when I go after Uchiha Itachi's body again. Kimimaro-kun was too easy to subdue." The man on the throne said with slight glee in his voice. The Shikotsumyaku would definitely serve him well in his quest to gain Itachi's body. He had tried to steal his body once, but Itachi forced him to retreat after he cut off his hand. He could have gone for any Uchiha that there was out there, but none of them are as strong as Itachi is, not even his own father.

The man is said to be the strongest Uchiha since Madara Uchiha. If Itachi had awakened the same power as Madara he could possibly be in the same league as him. Still, Itachi had a matured Sharingan and he was amazingly strong. His body would make the perfect host body for him one day.

"Um, my lord…" said Kabuto breaking the man out of his thoughts, "I'm here to report something of great interest to you."

"Oh?" the man on the thrown said gleefully, "Do tell."

"Well, my lord, it seems as though Aoi and his men failed to capture the girl, just as you had suspected." Kabuto said.

"I knew those fools were worth less than I gave them…but still, how are their deaths and their failure of any interest to me?" The man on the throne asked.

"It is not precisely their death's that are of interest, but the purpose that their death's served that is." Kabuto said.

"Oh…and what did it serve?" the man on the throne asked, feeling a little bit excited.

"Well apparently they must have chased the girl around Hi no Kuni for days before they died. I am willing to bet that during that time period the girl picked up a companion that helped to crush them." Kabuto answered.

"And let me guess, this companion is the person I should be interested in, right?"

"Indeed, my lord…for the girl is said to be travelling with a boy that was strong enough to defeat a bijuu." Kabuto said.

"A boy defeating a bijuu? I find it hard to believe." The man on the throne stated.

"Any one would do so, until they realise that the boy is actually the Jinchuriki boy that has everyone jumping up and down." Kabuto said with a small smirk on his face.

"Namikaze's brat that houses the Kyuubi? Very interesting…and you're saying that the girl is with him?" the man asked.

"Indeed she is, my lord." Kabuto replied.

The man on the throne looked thoughtful for a few seconds before he said, "Kabuto-kun, go get me the Fearsome Hand of Four. Tell them I have a mission for them."

"Hai, my lord." Kabuto said with a dark smirk on his face as he bowed down to his leader. He already knew what his master was planning, and it was not gonna be pleasant for anyone that was not on their side.

**Unknown Location **

Inside a dark cave in an unknown location there was a gigantic statue. The statue only had a torso and a pair of arms that were in shackles and a head that had ten eyes in it. The statue looked like a monster that was being imprisoned more than anything else. Suddenly some light entered the cave when a small rainbow coloured glow appeared on top of one of the statues fingers. The glow turned out to be a holographic image of a man that had spiky hair and he was and that wore a cloak that had clouds on it. The colour of the man's hair, cloak or anything else was impossible to gauge out due to the rainbow effect the hologram created.

The man's holographic form was soon joined by that of a woman with short hair and she wore the same cloak as the man.

"Konan." The man said to the woman in a deep voice.

"Yahiko…is it time yet?" the woman asked.

"No, it is not." Yahiko replied.

"Then why did you summon me?" Konan asked.

"Because I told him to." said a voice that appeared out of nowhere.

Both Konan and Yahiko turned their heads to the foot of the statue where a man that wore the same cloak as them stood, but unlike them he was not a hologram. The man wore an orange spiral shaped mask that only had one eye hole in it.

"You." Konan said venomously.

"Yes, me…now be the good little girl that you are and keep quiet, the others are about to arrive soon." The man said.

Konan was about to retort to that statement, but a raised hand from Yahiko's holographic form silenced her. A second later another holographic figure appeared out of thin air on top of what was presumed to be a finger. The holographic figure was that of a really short man that had a few tufts of hair tied into a ponytail.

"Welcome, Sasori." Yahiko said.

"Leader-sama." Sasori replied, not realising that the orange mask wearing individual was hiding in the shadows.

Another hologram appeared next to Sasori's holographic form. This one had long hair that was tied into a ponytail, with a really long bang also covering one eye.

"Mn, Sasori no Dana, I thought I told you to wait for me…" the man said, not even bothering to greet his leader.

"Deidara, what have I told you about keeping people waiting?" Sasori said in a slow manner.

"You and your rules…no wonder the Sabaku are better than you." Deidara said.

"I will make you pay for your insolence as soon as this meeting is done." Sasori said in anger over the fact that Deidara mentioned that accursed family that he despised so much.

"No, Sasori, you will not." Yahiko said.

Sasori looked at his leader for a brief second before he put his head down, signifying his will to comply with what his leader said.

Soon after Deidara and Sasori had appeared, a few more appeared on the fingers of the statue. One had a large tri-bladed scythe on his back, another wore a mask that was attached to the cap he wore on his head, with his eyes being the only distinguishable part. After that another appeared that had an animalistic look on his face that had an ever present predator grin, and he looked to be carrying a huge sword strapped onto his back. What they all had in common were the cloaks that had cloud imprints on them.

"So why the fuck have we been summoned here, huh?" asked the one with the tri-bladed scythe.

"Silence, Hidan…" said the one who's only discernable feature were his eyes.

"Fuck you, Kakuzu." Hidan said.

"Hehehehe…you two always crack me up." said the one that had an ever present grin on his face.

"Hidan, Kakuzu, Kisame, we are not here to rile each other up…if we were here for that I would not have summoned you via your holographic projections." Yahiko said in a threatening manner.

"Apologies, Leader-sama." Kakuzu said, bowing his head slightly.

"Where is your partner, Kisame?" Konan asked.

"Right here." came a deep voice before a hologram of that person formed on another finger. The figure also had a large sword on his back just like Kisame, but he had bandages that wrapped around the lower part of his face and the entirety of his neck, and just like everybody else that was here, he also wore a cloak that had a cloud pattern on it.

"Momochi Zabuza, the Kaijin." Konan said with a small smile etched onto her face.

Yahiko saw the smile that appeared on Konan's face, but chose to say nothing about it…well not yet anyway.

After Zabuza there was another appearance that followed suit, and that was of two men that had the same hair style that looked more like a lion's mane than anything else. The men had matching whisker marks on their cheeks and they also wore the same cloaks as everybody else.

"Kinkaku and Ginkaku?" Hidan said in surprise…when the fuck did you old fossils join us.

"Yes, I am also quite intrigued as to how the gold and silver brothers are part of this group of ours. Last I heard of you was when you took care of the previous leader of the Yotsuki clan before his son, A, took over." Sasori said as well.

"What?" one of them said, "Hidan and Kakuzu are not the only immortals here."

"Shut it, Ginkaku…" said the one presumed to be Kinkaku.

Before Ginkaku could reply to his brother's taunt, Yahiko intervened and said, "Good, you are all here, it's time to get this meeting started."

This was the signal for all of the people that were there to shut the hell up, and they did.

"I'm pretty sure that Sasori and Kakuzu have already heard of this, considering the informants that they have, but the Kyuubi Jinchuriki has come out of hiding." Yahiko said.

This got looks of curiosity form the others while Kakuzu and Sasori just remained unflinching due to the fact that they had already known about it.

"So where is the brat now?" Kisame said.

"His current whereabouts are unknown, but he was last seen exiting the Kaze no Kuni in the companionship of a pink haired girl. The girl has been identified as the daughter of Haruno Jenin." Yahiko answered.

This made Kakuzu's normally dead looking eyes glint as he said, "Hmm, the daughter of the world's richest man…that is quite a score."

"Indeed." Sasori said in agreement.

"Fucking heathens, all you care about is money." Hidan said.

"So what? Money is the only absolute truth in this world of ours…nothing else matters, not even your phony baloney god." Kakuzu said.

"What did you say, you god-damn hole?" Hidan said, seething with rage over the fact that his religion was belittled.

"You heard me." Kakuzu said calmly.

"I believe we have heard you both enough." Konan said.

"I agree with her." Zabuza said, adding his own two cents.

"Enough." Yahiko said, glaring at every single one of them, "I did not call this meeting just so you can act like rookie shinobi…you are professionals, so act like it."

The tone in which Yahiko spoke in promised a lot of pain and suffering if no one complied, but thankfully for them they all did.

"Uzumaki Naruto is one of our targets…he houses the Kyuubi in him, for now we will just monitor him, but Deidara and Sasori, you two are to start looking for the Ichibi no Shukaku…apparently the boy defeated it in battle, so while it is licking its wounds it will be vulnerable. You are to capture it immediately."

"Hai, Leader-sama." They said in unison.

"The rest of you are to keep on doing the assignments that you were tasked with, am I clear?"

"Hai, Leader-sama." They said in unison.

"Good, you are dismissed." Yahiko finished.

Directly after Yahiko's final words all of the holograms started to disappear until only the holograms of Konan and Yahiko remained.

"Well that went well." said a voice from the shadows before the orange spiral mask wearing man appeared from within them, "You know how to control them all better than I could, Yahiko. You were clearly made to be their leader."

"Do not mock me, Madara." Yahiko said threateningly.

"Oh, but I would not dream of it, after all you are the strongest person in Akatsuki." Madara said.

Yahiko sensed the sarcasm that dripped off Madara's voice but chose say nothing about it and instead chose to ask a question, "You told me before that we would no longer need Nagato's Rinnegan to complete the project…can I ask how we're going to do so without it."

Madara was quiet for a few seconds as he weighed the options that he had in his head, before he moved his hand towards his mask and he took it off partially so that the right side of it, the one that had the eye hole could be seen.

Yahiko and Konan were given view of a mature Sharingan before it suddenly started spinning before the tomoe converged and changed its shape and became a shuriken-like formation, giving them birth to the first Mangekyō in a hundred years, before the Mangekyō disappeared and the eye changed its colour as it went from red to purple, with the tomes disappearing only to be replaced by lines.

"Is that…?" Konan asked, utterly flabbergasted by what she saw.

"Yes," Madara said, "the Rinnegan…I awakened it a few months ago, and it was thanks to it that we no longer need Nagato's Rinnegan in order to complete our plans."

"I see…" was all Yahiko said.

Madara placed his mask back on before his eye went back to being in its Mangekyō form before he disappeared into a swirling vortex.

**Two weeks after the battle with Shukaku**

A boy stood in a clearing surrounded by ten wooden poles, each of them shaped differently than the other. The boy had his eyes closed as he evened his breathing. The nature that surrounded him was serene at best, as it just brought a certain level of calm to him.

Without warning the boy's eyes snapped open before he rushed towards the pole directly in front of him and sent a straight punch at it, only for his punch to veer off course and end up missing the pole entirely. He moved backwards a little bit before he performed a spinning kick and missed the pole once again before he sent out a slap which struck the pole perfectly, before he jumped back and stood still and looked at the pole.

Suddenly marks started to appear all over the pole as if someone was trying to chop it with a blunt axe. There were only three marks, the first one appearing where the boy had sent his punch wayward, the second one appeared where the boy's spinning kick should have it, while the third one appeared at his slap hit, although that mark looked a bit more refined than the others.

"You almost got it, Naruto." Sakura said as she watched Naruto training while she read a book, leaning into a tree trunk.

"I know, but almost is not gonna cut it if I wanna be perfect at this style." Naruto replied without turning to look at Sakura.

This was his own taijutsu style that he was creating. Well technically he was not really creating a style, but adding on to what taijutsu he had been taught. After his battle with Shukaku, Naruto spent a few days in Kaze no Kuni with the Subaku family. He ended up training with them one day, with Temari to be precise. Ever since he had defeated the Ichibi the girl had been looking at him strangely. He wondered on a few occasions why she would stare at him when she thought he could not notice, but when he stared back she would turn her face away from his, hiding a blush.

Being a person that grew up with only two people to communicate with made Naruto dense when it came to reading other people. When he had asked Sakura about it, she just shook her head at him and told him to go away.

The weird looks aside, Naruto got to train with another wind user. Temari told him about some legendary Kaze no Kuni shinobi that were said to be able to create weapons made entirely out of wind, but that was a few centuries ago. The principles about doing that were lost to everyone.

Still, it gave Naruto the inspiration he needed to create his own secret taijutsu style utilising the wind, he called it the Wind Fist.

The principles behind it were simple to understand. You basically build up wind chakra in your limbs before you attack someone. When you attack that person, whether or not you miss is irrelevant, as the end result would still be that person getting cuts all over their body when you release the wind chakra you built into the limbs.

When finished the style should prove to be quite deadly.

Naruto looked at the nine other poles that surrounded him and smirked; he pulled out a shuriken from his shuriken pouch and brought it to his mouth. He then proceeded to blow some air onto the shuriken and he watched as the shuriken started spinning on his index finger. The shuriken became coated in wind chakra and it expanded in size to the point where it ended up looking like a fuuma shuriken. Naruto jumped into the air and threw the shuriken, before he went through the four hand seals required for the jutsu he had in mind, and said, "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique)!"

The shuriken that he had thrown multiplied into nine and proceeded to cut all of the poles and continue after slicing them and they sliced a few tree branches before finally coming to a stop once they lost their cutting edge.

"Thank you Sarutobi clan scroll." Naruto said to himself in jubilation after he had seen his newest combination work out perfectly.

Unfortunately for him though, his jubilation had to be cut short as he remembered what he wanted to do tonight

Naruto turned and walked to where Sakura was sitting and proceeded to sit cross-legged in front of her.

"Sakura…" Naruto said in a slightly sad tone.

Sakura, who had been deeply engrossed in her book looked up from it with anger on her face as she looked at Naruto with murderous eyes, but upon setting her eyes on his depressed form, she suddenly lost the will to shout at him.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Sakura asked.

Naruto kept quiet for a few seconds, not really sure about how he should phrase his question, but after a short while he just decided it was best to go with the flow, "Sakura…I have something to tell you…it's a truth about me that you should have known about before we even began this journey."

Sakura looked at her blonde friend in confusion, not really getting what he meant, but she did say, "A truth about you I should know about?"

"Hai." Naruto said sadly.

"What is it?" Sakura asked.

Naruto sighed out loud before he said, "Sakura, I am a jinchuriki."

**END**

**Clan Information**

Senju Clan

**Clan ranking:** 1

**Clan Leader:** Senju Tsunade

**Strongest Member(s): **Senju Nawaki

**Strength:** 4.0/5

**Population: **3.5**/5**

**Economy: **3.5**/5 **

**Skills: **Specialise in all forms of combat and every single art of ninjutsu.

**And so ends the chapter that was created just so I could show you guys some of the main powers of the story, and their schemes. As the old saying goes, the best laid plans of mice and men, hence why this chapter is called "…of mice and men". **

**Orochimaru has the Shikotsumyaku, Obito has the Rinnegan, and Itachi does not have a Mangekyō…in fact no Uchiha does.**

**Now I believe that Kishimoto fucked up when it came to Obito not having a Rinnegan. Why? Obito had Hashirama's cells in him just like Madara did, but he did not awaken the Rinnegan, that's messed up. I decided to give it to him, but only in his right eye since it is his original eye, and just like Madara it only activated later on in his life after Hashirama's cells were implanted into him. **

**Now, who should Naruto face first, and why? Should it be the Senju clan or should it be the Fearsome Hand of Four (Sound Ninja Four) or should it be Root or should it be the Uchiha. Your answers will determine how the story will go from here.**

**As for Akatsuki, well they will serve less like the Akatsuki of the Narutoverse and more like the Red Ribbon Army from Dragonball.**

**Kinkaku and Ginkaku live all the way through to Naruto's time…guess Akatsuki has more immortals to add on to their list. **

**Konan has a thing for Zabuza (who I decided to add to Akatsuki's roster), and it seems Yahiko doesn't like it one bit. **

**How will Naruto's conversation with Sakura turn out? I don't know, I guess you'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out. **

**I'm out.  
**


	8. Chapter 8: Apologies and Green Beast

**A/N:**

**I made some changes to Chapter Six regarding Kakashi's conversation with Pakkun…read to find out what it is.**

Chapter Eight: Apologies and the Green Beast

"Huh?" said the voice of a clearly confused Sakura, "Jinchuriki, what is that?"

Naruto kept quiet and thought to himself for a few seconds, looking for the best way to explain what the heck he was to Sakura. After a few seconds of thinking, he decided to give up on trying to approach the conversation methodically and decided to just wing it.

"Twelve years ago a great beast attacked Uzu, the island ruled by the Uzumaki-" Naruto began before being abruptly cut off by his friend.

"If you're talking about the Kyuubi attack, then don't bother, I already know about it." Sakura said in her holier-than-thou attitude.

"Oh?!" Naruto said taken aback, "Then what do you know about what happened."

Sakura scrounged her face as she tried to piece together the few details that she knew about the attack, "Well…I remember reading about a man name Mina…Mina-something defeating the Kyuubi…but I don't remember what he did, but I do remember he ended up forfeiting his life in the process."

Naruto looked at Sakura with a scrutinising look in his eyes before he said, "Minato…the man's name was Namikaze Minato."

"Yeah, that's the name…wait, how do you know it? I thought you don't know anything about the outside world?" Sakura asked.

Naruto kept quiet once again. He looked down onto the ground for a few seconds before he finally looked Sakura in the eyes and said, "I know about him because he was my father."

Sakura's eyes just bulged out of her eyes. Naruto was the son of the man who defeated the Kyuubi. No wonder he was able to kick Shukaku's ass, it must be a genetic thing.

"Whoa, so your name is Namikaze Naruto?" Sakura said.

"No." Naruto replied.

"Huh?" Sakura said in clear confusion.

"What I meant is that my name is not Namikaze Naruto. It's Uzumaki. My mother was from the Uzumaki clan, and as such when she and my father got married she could not change her last name due to her being part of the clan, just like how Uzumaki Mito did not change her surname despite marrying into the Senju clan."

"Uzumaki Mito?" Sakura asked.

"Long story…but what you need to understand is that you being here with me poses a great threat to your own personal safety." Naruto said.

"How so? Last time I check you can kick so much ass that even a certified monster lost to you in its own natural territory. As far as I can tell you are one of the safest people to be around."

"Yeah, well when you understand what I mean you won't feel the same way." Naruto said morbidly.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked in a worried manner.

"A jinchuriki, Sakura, is someone that has a bijuu sealed inside him or her." Naruto said, making Sakura's eyes bulge out of their sockets.

"What?"

"Yeah…that's what I am. In order to save the people of Uzu, my father sealed the Kyuubi inside me…but the sealing ritual cost not only his life, but my mother's as well. That's why I live; I mean lived, with my grandpa, who in truth is actually my godfather." Naruto said.

Sakura looked at Naruto and for a split second she thought she saw an image of the Kyuubi overlapping Naruto's image, but that vanished a second later when Sakura realised that the image seemed out of place.

"What is wrong with you being a ji-ji…jinchurichi." Sakura asked.

"Jinchuriki…and the thing that's wrong about it is that the entire shinobi world has forbidden the creation of Jinchuriki, no matter how noble the cause. Jinchuriki are seen as atrocities by the shinobi world, atrocities that should be dealt with before they become too powerful to defeat." Naruto said morbidly once again.

Sakura looked at her friend with a sad look in her eyes. Naruto was truly suffering because of this burden that he carried. Being a jinchuriki must be the reason why he grew away from civilisation and why he barely knew anything besides how to fight. In a way Naruto was similar to her.

Her father had many enemies, and because of that her family could not live on the main land due to all of these enemies. In a way she was as much of threat to Naruto as he was to her.

"Naruto…" Sakura said, getting the blonde's attention, making him raise his head so that his eyes could meet hers, "you're not a monster, and I don't think that you are one…" Sakura said, making Naruto's worry-filled look turn into a surprised one when her statement left her mouth. He was surprised by how easily she had accepted the fact that he had the most evil creature to walk the Earth stuck in his gut. He felt truly relieved.

"If anything, I am the one that is a monster." Sakura said to him, making him look at her with confusion that was evident on his face.

"Huh?"

Sakura looked deeply into Naruto's eyes, before she heaved out a sigh and then she said, "I lied to you."

"You lied to me? Lied about what?" "Naruto asked, clearly not sure about what Sakura was talking about.

"I lied to you about my father…he isn't dead." Sakura said.

"What?" Naruto uttered in disbelief.

"My father is alive…in fact he lives with my mother on an island fortress that was built to protect my family from my father's enemies." Sakura said.

"Enemies?" Naruto asked, still not sure about what Sakura meant, although he was feeling a weird feeling inside of him when he tried to make sense about why she lied to him.

"Yes, enemies…my father is the world's best inventor, and he can create weapons that can single handily win wars between clans…his weapons have also made our family the target of many people, including the Senju and Uchiha clan. All of the people that are after you will also come after me as well. I am my father's one weakness." Sakura finished morbidly.

Naruto did not say anything at first as he simply lowered his head and let the silence between him and Sakura build up slowly. Eventually though he did look up at Sakura, and when he did Sakura saw a look that made fear course through her body.

"So you lied to me! Why? Was it so you could get my Dragonball, huh?" Naruto all but shouted at the twelve year old girl, and all the while Sakura flinched from fear after every pause Naruto made.

"Why? I just wanna know why you did it…" Naruto said in a defeated voice a few seconds later.

"I…I lied to you because…b-because at the time, it seemed like it was a pretty good idea, but as I spent time with you, I ended up realising how wrong I was…Naruto, I am truly sorry." Sakura said weakly.

Naruto looked down on the ground before raising his head and he said, "My forgiveness depends on what you truly wanted the Dragonball for…what is it that you want to wish for Sakura…"

Sakura flinched and looked away from Naruto, not sure about how she could look him in the eye and tell him about her selfish desire.

"W-world peace." Sakura said weakly.

"You're lying." Naruto countered immediately, making Sakura flinch at his response to her blatant lie. The two of them stayed quiet for a few more seconds, before Sakura finally said what she truly wanted to use the Dragonballs for.

"I wanted to wish for a…a perfect boyfriend." Sakura said.

Naruto just looked at her with cold eyes, not believing what he had heard Sakura say. Was she that shallow as to use him just so she could get a boyfriend? Naruto felt a feeling inside of him that made him feel uneasy. He decided to turn on his heels and leave Sakura at her tree as he went deep into the surrounding forests to take a breath of fresh air, so to speak, and to clear his head.

Immediately after Naruto had disappeared from her line of sight, Sakura curled herself into a ball and just started crying. She had screwed up big time. Her first true friend outside the island that her family owns had just turned his back on her, and she could not really blame him. She practically used him, and she felt appalled by her own actions. She had screwed up big time.

**A few days later**

Hatake Kakashi was currently moving through the thick forestry that made up Hi no Kuni at a leisurely pace. Despite being on the job, he was taking it lightly, just as he was accustomed to do. He had run around in circles searching for Haruno Jenin's daughter, and every time he thought he was close, she slipped right in between his fingers. He tracked her directly into Kaze no Kuni, only to find out that she had already left the country and was back in Hi no Kuni.

The girl was good at running, he would give her that; but it seemed that she was bad at lying low as the news about her leaving her family's island have reached every shinobi worth his salt. This in turn made Kakashi's job harder than it originally was due to the fact that he now had to not only try and take the girl home, but he was sure that people would come after her now that they knew that they could strike the Haruno's through their daughter.

He could not "rescue" her and also watch out for both of their backs due to the fact that he did not have the luxury to do so. It would be too taxing for him to watch out for their backs considering that every shinobi wanted a piece of her. He had even heard about small time and big time criminals putting a bounty for her to be brought to them, alive. All in all, this situation just screamed "you're fucked". So no one could blame him for wanting to take it easy right now due to the stress the mission brought.

Still though, he had a mission to complete. He had already taken the payment, and he was not the type of shinobi to dishonour a contract. His family code did not allow for such a thing to happen. So he would finish this mission or as it now seemed to be possible, to die trying.

There was also another new element to this mission that made it harder. Apparently the girl was travelling with the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, the boy that a lot of people wanted dead, or in the case of a few others, they wanted him for the power he held within. This brought a completely new and unwanted hurdle to his mission. Dang he was in for it. There was no way he was going to be able to finish this mission on his own anymore. He needed help.

Luckily though for him, he already had a plan in mind, and he was on his way now to fulfil it. Just as that thought had popped into his mind, the trees that were in the forest he was travelling in soon parted and they gave way to a clearing. In this clearing there was a moderate sized traditional Japanese house. He stopped and stared at the house for a little bit, taking in the image of a very clean house, at least externally, along with a neatly trimmed front yard. He then saw that there was someone there and he called him, "Yo, Tengen!"

"Kakashi-san!" the portly figure of Tengen shouted in excitement. Tengen then rushed over to where Kakashi was before stopping just ten feet from him before he took out a kunai and cut his thumb a little. Some blood dropped down onto the ground from the self-inflicted wound before black markings appeared on the spot where the blood was before they disappeared as if they were never there.

"It's alright now, Kakashi-san. The barrier's been dropped." Tengen said with a small smile on his face.

Kakashi nodded in Tengen's direction before he said, "Thanks Tengen. Where's your partner in crime?"

Tengen laughed a little before he said, "He's out back with the kids."

"Thanks." Kakashi said before he started moving again, walking past the portly man and he proceeded to the back yard where the person he was looking for was at.

When Kakashi went into the backyard, he was greeted by the sight of a man that had black hair that was shaped in a bowl haircut with a small group of kids sitting in front of him patiently. The man wore an outfit that many would call ludicrous and a tad bit obscene; it was a green spandex bodysuit that was accompanied by orange legwarmers and a pair of blue sandals. The man had his back turned to Kakashi, who in turn said nothing as he just let the man do his thing with his students.

"Gai-sensei, what is next for us to do on this youthful day today?" asked a boy that nearly made Kakashi audibly gasp out in shock due to his appearance. The boy was an exact copy-cat of Gai. Ironic really, considering that he was the one that was called the copy-cat ninja.

"My wonderful and most youthful student, Lee, I will let you and your fellow students decide about what it is that you want to do." Gai replied to his student's question.

There was some murmuring among the students as they huddled up and discussed what they wanted to do today. After a few minutes they broke apart and went back to their cross-legged positions in front of Gai, before one of them, a girl that had brown hair tied into buns and that wore a Chinese styled pink shirt with a pair of green cargo pants and blue sandals said, "Gai-sensei, we want to know about the World Combat Championship."

Gai looked at his students with a serious expression before he said, "What is it that you want to know. I told you all that I know about the tournament just last week."

"I know that," the girl said with a small pout on her face, "but the others want to know what I know directly from you…you know how information can be tainted from one person to the next." The girl finished off by crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Well, that's true…information is tainted whenever it passes from one mouth to the next…still, I think that you just don't want to talk." Gai said to her, and the girl smiled in a sly manner, indicating that Gai was indeed correct. She was not a people person, and while she got along well with her fellow students, she was not the type to talk to crowds, no matter how well she knew them.

"Alright my youthful students, what is it that you want to know?" Gai asked exuberantly as the brown haired girl went to sit down with her fellow students.

"Everything!" they all shouted in unison, well all besides the brown haired girl as she just chose to shake her head as she thought about how idiotic her fellow students were.

"Alright…well let's start at the beginning then, shall we. The World Combat Championship is a tournament that is held once every year. It is used as a means for clans, along with up and coming shinobi to showcase their talents in order to gain future customers. The tournament pits thirty-two rookie shinobi against each other in order to see who the best is. The…yes, Lee?" Gai said.

"Gai-sensei, what is a rookie shinobi?" Lee asked, making Gai's mood deflate a little along with also making Kakashi sigh, while the brown haired girl just said, "Really, Lee? You have got to be kidding."

"Kidding about what, Tenten?" Lee asked in clear confusion.

"Ki-you know what, never mind." The girl, now known as Tenten said as she realised that Lee did not know what their sensei was talking about.

"Tenten…" Gai said, drawing the girl's attention to him, "why don't you explain the shinobi ranking system to us?"

"No." the girl replied instantly, crossing her hands over her small chest.

"Well, if you don't explain it, then I won't continue with the explanation about what the World Combat Championship is." Gai said, also crossing his hands over his chest in a similar manner to what Tenten did.

Tenten on the other hand just looked at the ground, trying to ignore Gai's imposing figure since he seemed a bit scary when he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh c'mon Tenten, just say it already." Another student said. This outburst was followed by a many others as Tenten's fellow students tried to pressurise her into talking.

"Fine! Fine, I will tell you about the stinking system…" Tenten conceded, "but this is something that you should know already." The girl said the last part quietly before she huffed her chest and said, "The shinobi ranking system has four levels to it; the first one, and the one that we all share is the ranking of Rookie (genin). It is the first level that a shinobi is given. The second ranking is the one of Semi-professional (chunin), a ranking given to those that are above us. A Semi-pro is a shinobi that is, while still relatively new to the business, they have experience on their side.

The third ranking is that of a Professional (Jonin), these are the guys that are said to be tough guys. Most clan heads and some other exceptional shinobi like Gai-sensei and his friend that's standing over there," Tenten pointed at Kakashi, prompting Gai to turn and look at Kakashi, who in turn just waved at Gai, and Gai gave him the nice guy pose before he turned back to Tenten just as the girl continued with her explanation, "are considered to be part of this rank."

"What's the last rank, Tenten?" Lee asked excitedly.

"The final ranking is that of the Elite (Kage-level). These guys are sometimes known as army destroyers. Elites are rare in this world of ours. They say that if you ever meet one, run. Don't even bother trying to fight them because you will die." Tenten said in a cryptic manner.

"Whoa…" said one of the Kids as they stared at Tenten in awe.

"Tenten is right one hundred percent. That is the current ranking system. As it stands right now all eight of you are Rookie shinobi, and will remain as such until you partake in the World Combat Championship…now where was I when I was explaining what it is…?" Gai asked himself.

"You were telling them about how the tournament pits thirty two rookies against each other." Kakashi said, speaking for the first time since he arrived at the back yard.

"Oh yes…well as Kakashi and I were saying, the tournament takes thirty two rookies and makes them fight against each other. Sixteen spots are reserved for the top sixteen ranking clans in the world, while the other sixteen are for those that win the qualifiers. Now since none of you are from any of the top sixteen clans, you will have to go through a qualifying round just like Kakashi and I did a long time ago."

"Yosh!" Lee said, "I shall enter this year's edition of the World Combat Championship and win it so I can advance in rank. And then after that I will work hard so that I can one day surpass Gai-sensei!"

Tenten just shook her head at Lee's attitude, although she did have a small smile on her face. His excitement at the prospect of fighting at the tournament was making her excited as well.

"That's it Lee, fan those flames of Youth!" Gai said to Lee.

Tenten, already knowing about what came next (that horrid hugging scene) quickly intervened before Lee could say anything and said, "Gai-sensei, could you continue with your explanation, please."

Gai and Lee's exuberance deflated a little, but none the less Gai continued with the explanation, "Well, let's see now…oh yes, the tournament pits thirty two people together against each other in single combat. When all is said and done, there must be one victor at the end."

"Cool! What does the victor get, Gai-sensei?" asked a boy that wore round glasses and had black hair with grey tips to it.

"Well since the winner is actually representing his clan, his or her clan is rewarded with a cheque of five million ryou…oh, and in the next tournament the clan that won the previous edition is allowed to have two representatives instead of one." Gai explained to the boy.

"Cool…so who won last year's edition?" Tenten asked, shocking everyone with her "boldness".

"What? Gai-sensei never told me about the prize involved." Tenten said with a shrug.

"I don't remember..." Gai said in a thoughtful tone, before he turned to Kakashi and said, "Do you remember who won it last year, Kakashi?"

"Yeah, some Hyūga who's name I can't remember." Kakashi said nonchalantly.

"Oh, alright…oh, I almost forgot to tell you that in the event of a clan gaining two spots, one of the spots from the qualifiers is taken away." Gai said.

"That is amazing, Gai-sensei…how about we train now guys, because I can't wait for the tournament to take place!" Lee shouted at the top of his lungs, causing all of the kids that were near him to flinch as their ears rung slightly.

"That's the spirit, Lee!" Gai said, "Now show the others the youth that one can find in training!" Gai said exuberantly.

"Hai, Gai-sensei!" Lee said before he stood up and ran towards a training post at impressive speeds.

Gai then turned and walked towards Kakashi who was quietly reading a book that was in his hands.

"Ah, my rival, what brings you around these parts of Hi no Kuni?" Gai asked with a big smile on his face.

"I'm actually here because I need you help with something…can we discuss it in a private area?" Kakashi asked.

"Sure." Gai replied be motioning for Kakashi to follow him with his hand.

Kakashi followed Gai as the green clad shinobi led them to his private quarters. Along the way Kakashi saw things that reminded him of the very first time that he had come here. Back then he was still a boy. His father had brought him here to help him learn some humility. He and his father stayed with Gai and his father, Dai, for nearly three whole months. Those were some of the worst times in Kakashi's life.

Being a person who was forever stoic, Kakashi just could not handle being around a person that shouted all the time at the top of their lungs, and also wore horrible clothing. He had made the mistake of not taking Gai seriously and he paid the price by getting beaten into the ground by the Taijutsu enthusiast. To make matters worse, the loser had to do whatever the winner said they had to do. That led to Kakashi wearing the green spandex suit that Gai and Dai wore, for the period of an entire week.

After that Kakashi learned to take Gai seriously in a fight, and despite being the natural prodigy between them both, Gai always managed to keep up with Kakashi through sheer hard work.

Eventually though Kakashi and his father left, with Kakashi never ever learning a shroud of humility despite Gai kicking his ass and forcing him to wear that horrid jumpsuit for an entire week.

Just as Kakashi was about to reminisce some more, Gai's voice called out to him, "Kakashi, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Kakashi only realised then that they had entered Gai's bedroom, which was not necessarily a bedroom but more like a training room. There were weapons stocked on the surrounding walls and there was a small wooden table, one which Kakashi guessed was used to eat on or to work on. There was a small cushion underneath the table.

At the far corner of the room there was a single futon that lay there, neatly made. All in all the room was simple, even for Kakashi's tastes.

"Well Gai," Kakashi said, I need your help with a job that I'm currently doing."

"Oh, and what is that job?" Gai asked enthusiastically.

"It is a job that has enough pay to cover three S-ranked missions." Kakashi said.

"That difficult, huh?" Gai said in a slightly serious tone.

"No, not really…originally it wasn't hard at all, but due to a series of unfortunate events, well let's just say I can't finish the job alone anymore." Kakashi said.

Gai stayed quiet for a few moments processing things through his head. If these circumstances were grave enough to force Kakashi to seek his help, then things were truly difficult.

"What is it that you need my help with?" Gai asked in a serious manner, one which seemed so out of place on his face.

"I was tasked by Jenin Haruno to look for his daughter who decided to skip their island home and head to the main land. Now as I am sure you have already guessed, I am not the only one that knows about her disappearance. The Senju and Uchiha know as well, and as such I am sure they will send someone after her."

"So you need my help with dealing with whatever they send your way?" Gai asked.

"Yes…but there are not the only people we will have to worry about." Kakashi said.

"Oh, who else would we have to worry about?" Gai asked.

"Well, word is that the girl is travelling with Minato Namikaze's son." Kakashi said.

"The child of the Kiroi Senkou, the last man to be called Kami no Shinobi?" Gai asked in shock, looking to see if he had heard things right.

"The one and only. One of only a few men to have bested my father in a fight." Kakashi said calmly.

"Wait, wait, wait…the man had a son?" Gai asked perplexedly.

"Yes…don't you remember the incident involving the Kyuubi that occurred twelve years ago in Uzu?" Kakashi asked his long-time friend.

Gai kept quiet for a second as he mulled what Kakashi said to him in his head, and after a few seconds a light bulb went off in Gai's head.

"Wait a minute, Kakashi, you don't mean to tell me that-"

"-That she is currently travelling with a jinchuriki? Yes, yes I am." Kakashi said calmly.

Gai kept quiet once again, letting his mind wonder about the developments that have hit Kakashi while on his mission. The girl alone would make things hard for him, but now that the entire shinobi world knows about the Jinchuriki being real, well a lot more people will be after the girl and the boy now…no wonder Kakashi needed his help for something like this.

"You know…something like this isn't gonna be solved by just adding me to the mission as an extra pair of hands for you to use." Gai said.

"I know." Kakashi said calmly.

"Then allow me to bring Tenten and Lee along with us." Gai said.

"No." was Kakashi's immediate reply. Lord knows they did not need any kids to slow them down.

"Sorry Kakashi, but it wasn't really a request, so much as a command. They're coming with me because they are the only ones that will enter the World Combat Championship, thus they need experience, and not only that but they are talented and can help us, especially Tenten with her long range capabilities." Gai said defiantly.

Kakashi would have continued to say no, but when Gai said that Tenten was a long range combatant it struck an idea deep within him. He mulled over the pros and cons in his head for a few minutes before decidedly agreeing with Gai's request.

"Alright, fine, they will join us, but they better not slow us down." Kakashi said.

"Don't worry, they won't, after all I trained them." Gai said.

"What about the other six students though?" Kakashi asked.

"They know how to take care of themselves, besides Tengen may be a retired shinobi, but he can still show them a few trick despite his size." Gai said confidently.

"Alright, we'll leave at dawn." Kakashi said, standing up and walking towards the door before he was abruptly stopped by Gai's voice.

"You said that you knew that I would not be enough to handle the threats that your mission posed for you…which means that you already had a few people in mind that could join us..."

"Your point being?" Kakashi asked without turning around to speak to Gai.

"Who are they?" Gai asked curiously.

Kakashi didn't say anything as he chose to turn and give Gai his famous lazy smile before saying, "You'll find out tomorrow at noon."

Kakashi then proceeded to exit the room, closing the door behind him and leaving Gai inside to just shake his head at his friend's antics.

**Three days later**

The last few days between Naruto and Sakura had been tense to say the least. After coming back from his walk, Naruto told Sakura that he would continue to help her search for the Dragonballs, but only if she helped him on his quest to track his godfather's whereabouts. That was all he said to her before retiring for the night.

At first Sakura felt relieved at having Naruto not shout at her, but as the days went by, she started wishing that he was due to the fact that he had suddenly become mute. They would travel throughout the day in silence, with Naruto speaking only when he wanted to convey something, before going back to shutting up. During the afternoon, they would settle at clearing, or a town, if they came across one, and Naruto would immediately go of to train.

Not having the old, loud mouth Naruto speak to her was torment for Sakura. She would sometimes wish that something could happen just so she could speak with him and him with her again. She had no idea that such an event was about to unfurl.

Naruto and Sakura were currently walking at a leisurely pace as they continued their travels According to what the dragon radar said, they were currently due east as that was where the next Dragonball was. Suddenly though Naruto stopped walking, and he remained dead still. Sakura noticed this and walked towards him and said, "What's going-"

Before Sakura had the chance to finish asking her question, Naruto spun on his heels and released one shuriken, before holding up the snake hand seal and watched as it multiplied into ten shuriken that immediately intercepted ten other shuriken that were headed towards them.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

This was a sound that repeated itself ten times as the shuriken intercepted each other.

"I expected someone that was an A-rank threat to have picked up my scent a long time ago." came a young and cocky sounding voice from the trees that surrounded them.

Naruto chose to say nothing as he let his eyes scan his surroundings, looking to pick up a trace of movement that would help him find the person attacking them.

Naruto suddenly saw the surrounding trees bursting into millions upon millions of cherry blossoms. The cherry blossoms started swirling in the air around them in a beautiful and majestic manner. The beauty of how well they swayed made Naruto feel light headed and sleepy. He felt really woozy as the seconds went by, he started feeling like wanting to take a nap, and let his eyes slowly shut.

Just as they were about to shut completely his body's weariness was immediately lifted by a hand slamming into his back and pushing chakra into his body.

Naruto fell down on the ground face first, before immediately getting up and turning around, only to find Sakura, but she had a kunai out and she was not even looking at him.

"Sakura, what's-" Naruto began, but he was cut-off by the girl.

"That was a genjutsu that was used on you. Luckily for us I happen to be well versed with them so I was able to spot it easily and help you out of it." Sakura explained to him.

"It seems that the girl should be the one that's considered an A-rank threat and not you." Said the voice one again, still emanating all around them.

"Show yourself!" Naruto said out loud.

There was a few seconds of silence around them, before the voice said, "Very well."

There was some rustling of leaves behind Naruto before footsteps were heard. The footsteps grew louder and louder up until the person walked out of the trees and into the afternoon light. Naruto was slightly surprised by what he saw.

A young fair-skinned boy that had onyx eyes and black chin-length hair stood in front of the blonde boy. The young boy had hair that was spiky at the back. He had bangs that hung above his eyes. His attire was a navy-blue, short sleeved shirt that had a high collar. He also wore a pair of white arm warmers and a pair of white shorts with blue sandals.

This was certainly not what Naruto expected to see, despite the earlier tell-tale sign of a young voice.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked the boy.

The boy remained silent for a few seconds, choosing not to answer that question, eventually though Naruto lost his cool and shouted, "She asked you a fucking question!"

" Hn, what a loud dobe (loser)." The boy answered with a small smirk on his face.

"Why you teme (bastard)!" Naruto said through gritted teeth.

"Hn, fine, if you truly want to know the name of your executioner, it's…Uchiha Sasuke."

**END**

**And that's a wrap ladies and gents. The ending of this chapter has me so hyped out that I want to begin writing the next one immediately.**

**For those who have not figured it out yet, I have decided to change the whole "Kakashi being Minato's student" thing…so no, Kakashi did not learn anything from Minato…he learned from his biological father, who did not commit suicide in this story.**

**I felt very weird at first when I wrote this chapter due to the fact that I made Naruto seem a bit hypocritical, after all he wanted Sakura to accept the real him, but he chose not to forgive Sakura when she asked for it. But then I thought about it from this manner, who would immediately forgive someone that practically used them? **

**Anyway that's that…**

**I'm out. **


	9. Chapter Nine: Sasuke Uchiha

**A/N:**

**First off, I would like to say that it saddens my heart to see my favourite story out of the three stories I have written not get as much favourites, follows or reviews as my other two stories. **

**What is it with this story that does not attract people to it? Is it due to the summary, or is it something else entirely?**

**Secondly I wanna know if there's anyone out there looking to be my beta reader for this story or my other story The Prodigal Uzumaki. **

**Anyway, here's chapter nine…**

Chapter Nine: Sasuke Uchiha

"Did you just say, Uchiha?" Naruto asked a bit fearful.

Sasuke noticed the slight fear in Naruto's tone and it made him smirk, "Yes, Uchiha…it seems as though our might scares you just at the mere mentioning of our name."

Naruto chose to not answer that as he thought things through a mile a second. The Uchiha had come for him. He was toast…Sakura was toast. While the thought of not being able to at least make it to his sixteenth birthday scared him a lot, Naruto was more scared of the fact that he might lose his very first friend, his best friend.

"How many?" Naruto asked in a low voice as he lowered his head, with his hair covering his eyes.

"It does not concern you." Sasuke said, understanding exactly what Naruto meant when he asked him how many. He was asking about the amount of clan members he had brought with him, and while Sasuke was sure he was alone, he did not want Naruto to think so.

"Uzumaki Naruto…my father, Uchiha Fugaku considers you to be an A-rank threat. Let's see if you're truly worth it." Sasuke said with an even voice.

The air current between the two pre-teens changed as they both brandished kunai, Sasuke drawing five, while Naruto drew just one, before they both threw their respective kunai at the same time.

Sasuke almost laughed at Naruto for throwing just one kunai, but before he could do so, Naruto raced through four hand seals before he cried out, "Shuriken Kage Bunshin."

Naruto's one kunai was joined by few dozen other kunai that seemed to materialise out of nowhere. Sasuke was shocked by this manoeuvre, but he did not have time to wallow in his shock due to the fact that his five kunai were easily repelled by the enemy's few dozen kunai before they rushed at him with incredible speed. He managed to duck out of the way of them, but he received a small cut of his right arm.

Before Sasuke knew what was going on, a kunai that had an exploding tag attached to it landed by his feet.

"Shit!" he said, before he quickly disappeared as he replaced himself with a log, hoping to avoid the explosion that he thought would occur. But there was nothing. No big bang. No huge explosion.

Naruto turned to the side to see Sakura smirking slightly.

"Um, Sakura, what the heck?" Naruto asked.

"It's a dummy, dummy." Sakura said.

"Wha-" Naruto said, before being cut-off.

"Never mind that…let's just focus on our current problem." Sakura snapped at him.

Naruto nodded his head in acknowledgement, and then he focused on his surroundings. He scanned them to see if he could find this Sasuke Uchiha kid, but he found nothing that indicated Sasuke's position. It would seem that the Uchiha was biding his time so he could come up with a strategy. It seemed as though he would have to flush him out.

Naruto remained perfectly still, calming his breathing to the point where it seemed as if he was not even breathing any more. After that he was hit by the familiar sensation of him being able to sense the nature that was around him. He only kept at this state for three seconds, before he let it go as he returned his breathing to normal.

Naruto's sensing ability let him sense his surroundings to an almost insane degree. It allowed him to pick out all of the creatures that were in the vicinity. And it just so happened that Sasuke was within the vicinity. But Sasuke was not the only human hiding within the vicinity.

'_So he has back up, huh?'_

Without wasting another second Naruto ran through a string of hand seals before he cried out, "Katon: Endan (Fire Style: Flame Bullet)!"

As the flame torrent unleashed itself upon the world, Naruto spun on his heels and focused his flame attack on the area that was behind him and Sakura; said girl had to shield her eyes slightly due to the intensity of the flames. As soon as the flaming torrent hit the trees, Sasuke Uchiha was seen jumping out of his hiding spot and flying through the air. Naruto just raised his head, thus making the flames he was spewing out of his mouth shoot towards Sasuke.

The flames hit the Uchiha, but then the strangest thing happened the flames flew right through him, as if he were some sort of ghostly apparition. The apparition soon disappeared, and Naruto immediately cancelled out his attack just in time to spot few shuriken appear from a different part of the forest.

'_This guy's smart enough to create a Bunshin and also replace himself within two seconds…nice.' _Naruto thought to himself.

The shuriken were easily dodged by both Naruto and Sakura, but then they saw a glint out of the corner of their respective eyes.

"Shit-" was all Naruto could say before he and Sakura were soon wrapped around in wire. When the wire "stuck" to them, Sasuke flew out of his position, and he had the ninja wire he had used to ensnare both Naruto and Sakura in his teeth, and he was also going through a string of hand seals.

'_Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique)' _Sasuke mentally intoned.

The wires that were wrapped around both Sakura and Naruto immediately caught on fire and the flames raced towards Naruto and Sakura, hoping to burn them alive. Unfortunately for Sasuke Naruto had other plans for how their fight would end, and being burned was not one of them. Naruto channelled chakra to his right wrist and watched with satisfaction as his red staff popped out of the seal paper that was attached to his right wrist.

All Naruto did was stick the staff onto the ground and he let it do its work.

Sasuke was surprised when he saw his technique diverge itself from where it was supposed to hit, and he was even more surprised when he saw that his fire technique was literally being absorbed into a red staff that he had not seen Naruto or the girl he was with carry.

While Sasuke was busy trying to figure out what was going on Naruto and Sakura just nodded their heads in each other's direction before using their strength to pull Sasuke towards them both through the use of his very own wires. Sasuke lost his balance and flew a few feet forward thanks to the combined strength of Naruto and Sakura, with his wires still in his mouth.

Before he could hit the ground however, he was met by two feet to his face, as both Naruto and Sakura ran forward and gave the Uchiha a double flying kick to his face while he was in mid-air. This had the subsequent effect of sending Sasuke flying towards, ad hitting the base of a tree, while also making him let go of the wire strings that were in his mouth. He released a small cry of pain when he hit the tree base, while Naruto and Sakura quickly disentangled themselves from the Uchiha's wires.

"Sakura-chan, stay back." Naruto said to her while looking at Sasuke's direction as the Uchiha slowly got up from the ground.

"What? No you stay back…let me handle him." Sakura said defiantly.

"You're talking as if you could defeat him…what he and I just had was a warm up…I can tell that he is really strong…probably as strong as me." Naruto said this time turning to look at her with a serious expression etched onto his face.

"But…" Sakura would have continued talking had it not been for the cold look Naruto had in his eyes. The look was so cold that it scared her greatly to the point where she just shut up and obliged to his command by jumping away from the battlefield and into one of the nearby trees that were a safe distance away.

"Good luck, Naruto…" she said to herself.

Meanwhile, back with Naruto and Sasuke, the two opponents were looking at each other, going through the first round of their fight in their heads.

'_It's safe to say that he is a Katon user like me…'_ Sasuke thought, looking at the destruction that Naruto's Katon jutsu had caused, _'if only he did not have his back to me when he went through the hand seals of that jutsu, it would have been great to learn it. It seems he is better than what I thought before, but he seems to be susceptible to genjutsu…it must be a weakness of his. Too bad for him I just so happen to know one or two genjutsu.'_

While Sasuke had his thoughts about Naruto, Naruto had his own thoughts about Sasuke_, 'he's light on his feet and also seems to be skilled in Katon…he probably noticed from the entrance he made earlier on that I have a huge weakness when it comes to genjutsu…but what he doesn't know is that he only caught me in that genjutsu because I was not expecting it, but now that I know that he is a genjutsu user, I will be able to counter it easily. Plus, he is an Uchiha, but he has not shown me his Sharingan yet. I wonder if he hasn't even awakened it yet. Only one way to test that out…'_

Naruto slowly slid into his taijutsu stance, a way in which he signified that he was ready for round two. Sasuke read Naruto's message clearly and also slid into his clan's Interceptor Fist stance. The air around the two of them convulsed once again just as they both prepared to launch themselves at each other.

They both took off in a short sprint towards the other, and they met each other at the centre, with both throwing a right handed punch at each other, but their respective punches stopped each other as they collided, releasing a small booming noise.

They withdrew their fists from each other, but Sasuke immediately sent in a kick to the side, but the kick was blocked by Naruto's forearm. Naruto pushed Sasuke's foot back really hard, causing Sasuke to stumble, before he sent in a solid punch to the Uchiha's gut, knocking the wind out of him, before delivering a solid spinning kick to Sasuke's left side, causing him to spin in the air while flying backwards and smashing into the ground enough to make him elicit a painful cry.

Sasuke slowly picked himself up from the ground, he inspected his injuries and saw that there were small gashed on his right fist, the fist that had made contact with Naruto's fist, his right sandal, the part that had been in contact with Naruto when Naruto pushed it away from his body, and his face, the part that Naruto had kicked.

"So…you are able to use some sort of chakra enhanced taijutsu to deal cuts to wherever you touch…interesting." Sasuke said to Naruto without lifting his head as he inspected the depth of the cuts, but when his eyes looked up, he saw that Naruto was nowhere to be seen.

"What the-"

"Fuuton: Kaze Tsurugi no jutsu (Wind Style: Wind Blade Technique)!" Naruto's voice cried out from behind the Uchiha. Sasuke reflexively replaced himself with a log just in time as an arc of condensed wind sliced the log into two pieces and went to the ground, where it ended up leaving a deep gash in it.

Naruto landed back in the clearing in a crouched position and with his trusted chokuto in his hand. He looked around the battlefield once more, searching for any sign of Sasuke. It seemed as though the Uchiha had pulled a disappearing act on him again.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no jutsu (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique)!"

Or not.

A huge fireball raced from behind Naruto, hoping to burn him before he could react, but Naruto simply took a page out of Sasuke's book and replaced himself with a nearby object, but his object wasn't a log, but his staff, which had been left stuck to the ground ever since he had used it to suck up Sasuke's fire technique. And just like before, when Sasuke's technique met with Naruto's staff, the staff ended up absorbing the flames into it.

Sasuke, who was in mid-air, was shocked once again by this strange ability, but before he could ponder it, another compressed arc of wind was sent to him, but this time Sasuke was vigilant, and he simply substituted with Naruto's staff. When his feet hit the ground, Sasuke immediately turned to the staff that was in mid-air, and watched as it was hit by the wind attack, but just as he had expected, the staff absorbed the attack. This made Sasuke smile a little since he had figure out a bit of what this staff could do.

Sasuke was made to pay for his casual disregard of his opponent when Naruto sent another wind blade attack at him, but unfortunately for the blonde he did not get Sasuke entirely, he just nicked his arm. This was due to Sasuke moving to the side at the last second. Naruto watched as Sasuke jumped towards the staff that had long since fallen to the ground, and he watched as the staff was picked up by the Uchiha, only for a blue sphere to appear from it, and that blue sphere exploded, blowing the Uchiha backwards and making him hit the ground.

"You seem to lack concentration in battle, Uchiha. Oh, and only I can wield that staff." Naruto said, watching on as Sasuke picked himself up out of the ground tiredly, before fixing the Uchiha fixed his Sharingan eyes which he finally decided to activate on the blonde's blue eyes.

"I fucking hate you!" Sasuke said with all of the venom he could muster. 

Suddenly a huge fireball dropped from out of the sky, falling towards Naruto and Sasuke at a fast rate. At first Naruto wanted to run as fast as he could, but when he saw Sasuke looking at him with a two tomoe Sharingan, he realised what was going on. Naruto brought his hands together and made the ram seal. He disrupted his own chakra flow on purpose and watched on as the falling fireball disappeared into thin air.

"Nice try, Uchiha…but I was waiting for you to use genjutsu on me. You brought out your Sharingan too late in our battle. You are exhausted, and as such, I will have to end this now." Naruto said, before taking his chokuto and pointing it at Sasuke, before he channelled chakra into his legs and sprinted at very fast speeds. Just as he was about to reach Sasuke he brought the chokuto back, before stabbing it forward straight at Sasuke, but at the last possible second, Naruto diverted his sword's stab, and instead he stabbed the ground and performed a one-handed hand stand on the hilt of the chokuto, and both he and Sasuke watched on as a pair of flaming shuriken passed by them and hit the ground a few feet away.

'This jutsu…' Sasuke thought in shock, 'it's the Housenka Tsunabemi…nii-san."

At that very second another figure appeared onto the battlefield, and it was none other than Sasuke's older brother, Itachi.

Naruto quickly got out of his one hand stand by flipping himself into an upright position, standing next to Sasuke, with his sword still in his hand.

"Who're you?" Naruto asked, looking at the Uchiha, who had his back to both him and Sasuke, with a light glare.

"I am Sasuke's older brother, Itachi. Now I will only say this once, surrender yourself to the Uchiha or face the consequences." Itachi said in a cold, monotonous tone.

Before Naruto could reply, Sasuke jumped into the conversation and said, "Nii-san, what are you doing? I can handle him on my own. Besides, what are you doing here?"

Itachi finally turned to face them, slowly. He looked at Sasuke, and then at Naruto. The look he sent towards Naruto made him want to take a step back. This guy was strong enough to instil fear into his opponent with nothing but a look…that was absurd, and yet also very true.

"I see you finally awoke the second tomoe in your Sharingan, Sasuke." Itachi said, ignoring Sasuke's question.

Sasuke looked at his brother in shock as he processed what his brother had just said, and while Sasuke did that Itachi spoke again, "I am here because father sent me as your back up…no, more like someone to watch over you. He wanted me to make sure that you are safe…and he also wanted me to complete your mission for you if it seems as though you are not fit to do so." Itachi said in a cold tone.

"Not fit to do so?" Sasuke asked his brother once he regained his composure from the shock that came with being told that he now had a two tomoe Sharingan now, looking at him with big, unbelieving eyes.

"Yes, Sasuke, you are unfit to carry out the rest of your mission, hence why I have decided to intervene." Itachi said, still using his cold, uncaring tone.

"What? But I'm still fine; I was going to beat him now that my Sharingan is activated." Sasuke said with anger laced into his tone.

"No, you might have in the beginning, but now that you are exhausted, and he is not, well you will lose should this fight continue, so as to spare you the embarrassment of losing, you will have to sit this out and let me handle the rest." Itachi replied coolly.

"Wait, what is it that you want to-" Sasuke was cut off from completing his sentence by his brother who just flared his chakra for a second, but that one second of raising chakra was enough to silence any other protests Sasuke had about his brother intervening in his fight.

"Now then…" Itachi said, with his gaze now planted firmly on Naruto, "I'll say this again, surrender to the Uchiha, or face the consequences."

"Forget it." Naruto said with all the confidence he could muster.

"Are you sure?" Itachi asked.

Naruto remained quiet for a second, before he simply looked Itachi in the eyes and said, "I knew you were hiding behind those trees over there." Naruto said, pointing towards the area which Itachi had come out off.

"Oh really? And for how long did you know that?" Itachi asked with a bit of amusement creeping into his voice.

"Doesn't matter." And in truth it didn't matter. He did not want to reveal his sensory ability to an enemy shinobi

"Indeed it does not." Itachi said coolly, "Since you aren't willing to come willingly I guess I might as well force you to do so…" Itachi said, while simultaneously getting into the Uchiha's secret taijutsu stance.

Naruto recognised the stance as the one Sasuke had used earlier on in their fight, so he allowed himself a small bit of confidence due to the fact that he knew about how to counter the taijutsu style. Naruto then suck his hand in the direction where his staff was, and watched on as his lifted itself up from the ground and flew straight into Naruto's hand. This was something Naruto had discovered a few days ago. Somehow the staff reacted to him whenever his hand was pointed towards it. He did not know what caused this, but he was glad since it meant that he could stay in place and have his staff come to him.

Itachi looked at this action with interest evident in his eyes, before he allowed his facial features to return to their normal impassiveness.

Naruto looked at the staff in his hand, before he stuck it on his back with nothing but chakra.

"Let's go." Naruto said out loud before he proceeded to run straight at Itachi, before jumping into the air and performing a roundhouse kick that the Uchiha blocked with ease with his left arm, before he pulled Naruto's leg with his right hand while the blonde was in mid-air and threw him towards a tree, but Naruto managed to flip himself over while in mid-air and only his feet hit the tree, which Naruto used as a springboard and boosted himself towards Uchiha Itachi and tried to hit him with a spin kick, but Itachi just shifted his head slightly, causing the blonde to miss his kick and sail past the Uchiha, but Naruto managed to land on his feet.

Itachi turned around slowly and faced Naruto with a composed look on his face. Naruto ran towards the Uchiha and launched a furry of quick punches at Itachi, but the Uchiha prodigy simply ducked and weaved in between Naruto's punches before he caught the blonde's wrists and kneed him in the gut, causing saliva and blood to fly out of the Naruto's mouth and drop onto the ground. Itachi then threw Naruto into the air, before he jumped right after the blonde and gave him a roundhouse kick to the face.

Naruto's body sailed through the air and hit the ground really hard, where it made Naruto release a pained cry and created a small crater with the impact.

Sasuke cringed slightly at the display. His brother was manhandling an opponent that had him on the ropes for most of their fight, seeing the display of strength and skill showcased by his older brother made Sasuke clench his fist slightly.

Meanwhile Naruto slowly got up from the ground and rubbed his painful jaw while also glaring daggers at Itachi.

"Glaring at me will not help you win this already hopeless fight you have involved yourself in…especially with that pathetic taijutsu display that you just showcased." Itachi said coolly at Naruto, as he stood still and waited for the blonde to make a move.

Naruto looked at Itachi for a few moments as an array of things went through his head. He then lowered his head, allowing his blonde hair to obscure his eye sight before he said, "So my taijutsu is pathetic, huh?" Naruto said.

"Yes." was Itachi's reply.

"Well if that is the case then let's switch to something else!" Naruto said, before raising his head, with his eyes meeting with Itachi's before he dug into his pouch and took out eight shuriken, he held four in each had in between his fingers before he launched all eight shuriken at once at Itachi.

Itachi stared the shuriken impassively as he waited for what he thought Naruto would do next, and that would be to multiply the shuriken. As the shuriken drew closer though, Itachi realised that Naruto had merely thrown the shuriken as a distraction, and when he looked at the blonde's position, he saw Naruto completing the hand seals for a jutsu he had in mind, "Katon: Endan."

Just like before when he used the technique against Sasuke Naruto spat out a giant fireball that headed towards Itachi at fast speeds, but unlike Sasuke who was not prepared for the jutsu Itachi was. Itachi simply took out a kunai that had an exploding tag tied to it and threw it at the oncoming fireball. The tag exploded, thus creating pressure that was big enough to halt the progression of Naruto's fireball for just a moment, but a moment was more than enough for someone like Itachi.

While Naruto continued to blow fire out of his mouth Itachi used his excellent speed to move around the fireball and ended by Naruto's right side. Itachi then proceeded to perform a spinning kick that, while Naruto saw it out of the corner of his right eye, Naruto could do nothing against as it connected with his right cheek and immediately cancelled his Katon jutsu and also sent him flying away.

While in mid-air though, Naruto was able to hold up the ram seal despite being slightly disorientated due to Itachi's kick, and smiled slightly.

Itachi, who was still standing in the area that Naruto was in a second ago, heard a crackling sound that one associated with an exploding tag, and sure enough, there was an exploding tag underneath Itachi's feet that was burning away at a fast rate.

**BOOM!**

This was the sound that was heard a second later when the tag finally detonated, but Sasuke and Itachi were not expecting an explosion of the magnitude that occurred.

"What the-" Sasuke said as he tree hopped at an alarming rate as he tried to get away from the explosion and the debris the explosion sent flying his way.

Itachi was perched up on a tree far away from the explosion. He watched the magnitude and power of the explosion with keen eyes as his Sharingan spun to life.

'_That is not a normal exploding tag.'_ Itachi thought to himself.

Naruto was currently with Sakura as the explosion died down. They were both well hidden deep within the trees that surrounded the clearing that was once their battlefield.

"What do we do now, Naruto?" Sakura asked, with a small bit of fear in her voice. Why was she feeling this way? It was simple, she had just witnessed Naruto, the guy that took on a team of semi-pro shinobi and later on the Ichibi no Shukaku and win, get dominated on the battlefield.

Naruto sensed Sakura's fear and looked at her eyes with his own kind, warm blue eyes, before he smiled at her and said, "It seems as though I'm getting my butt handed to me, huh?"

"No duh…but seriously, what are we gonna do?" Sakura asked once more.

Naruto closed his eyes in concentration as he sat down on a tree branch and folded his legs and initiated a meditative position. Sakura watched him as he meditated for three seconds, before he let the meditation stance fall apart as he stood back up on his feet and looked at Sakura.

"There's a small chance that you can make it out of here and live for another day, but that would require for me to distract Itachi, and in the process get caught, but it will be worth it if-"

"No!" Sakura immediately stated with firmness, "I will not allow you to sacrifice yourself for me, Naruto…not when I do not deserve it." Sakura said the last part in a small tone, but due to her and Naruto being in such a close proximity with one another the blonde was still able to hear her clearly.

"And why wouldn't you deserve it? Sakura, you are my best friend, I would do anything for you…if I ever lost you…I don't know what I would do." Naruto said passionately.

"I know what will happen if she dies." said a voice that came from above them, and when they looked up they saw none other than Sasuke Uchiha smirking down at them with an active Sharingan while simultaneously running through hand seals for a jutsu. Sasuke completed his hand seals just as Naruto and Sakura were about to jump out of their hiding spot, "Katon: Endan."

Naruto was shocked by the jutsu that Sasuke performed. Earlier on in their fight the Uchiha could not perform the technique, so how…that's when Naruto realised that Sasuke must have copied the jutsu off him when he used it against Itachi…FUCK!

Naruto and Sakura managed to jump out of their hiding spot, and while Naruto was able to evade the jutsu due to his being well versed with it and its range, Sakura was not, and as such she ended up getting burned slightly by it while in mid-air.

Naruto landed on the ground first, but before he could go and help Sakura out he was cornered by Itachi who simply threw a punch at him, but Naruto saw the punch coming and ducked and rolled underneath Itachi's outstretched fist, but just as Itachi looked down to see what was going on, he found his feet being removed from under him thanks to Naruto's sweeping kick.

Naruto then took off for Sasuke and Sakura, who were currently engaged in a fist fight, one that Sakura was losing in badly. Sasuke saw Naruto coming out of the corner of his eye and decided to end his fight with Sakura by killing her. He took out a kunai from his pouch just as the girl got in close to try and deliver a hook to his face…that was when he swung his kunai, hoping to open the girl's neck.

Naruto, who was still a few feet away, saw what Sasuke wanted to do and acted on impulse. He stretched out his hand and released a battle cry just as Sasuke swung his kunai, "Aaargh!"

Sasuke's kunai stopped a few centimetres from Sakura's neck, baffling both Sakura and Sasuke. Sasuke then felt an invisible force pull the kunai out of his hand harshly, and he watched as it flew into Naruto's outstretched hand. The blonde caught the kunai and twirled it, before he turned around and deflected five kunai that came from behind him on instinct. But he did not have time to dodge the three kunai that flew out of his blind spot as two cut his arms while one dug deep into his right shoulder.

"Aaargh!" Naruto cried out in pain.

Meanwhile, while Naruto fought off Itachi's strange, but effective shurikenjutsu Sakura had used Sasuke's utter bamboozlement over having his kunai snatched away from his tight grasp by punching him in the face before following it up with a knee to the stomach before giving him an upper cut and then she proceeded to jump away from the Uchiha just as he hit the ground.

"That bitch…" Sasuke groaned out as he stood up and looked for Sakura, but he was soon forced to forget about her when he heard the all too familiar sound of an exploding tag sizzling as it prepared to explode. The thing that made matters worse was that the tag was stuck on Sasuke's t-shirt.

"Shit!" The Uchiha said in panic as he removed the t-shirt just as the tag detonated. It created a huge explosion similar to the tag Naruto had used earlier when he nearly blew Itachi up.

Sakura, who was currently running towards Naruto and Itachi, who were a few hundred metres away from her, smiled slightly as she mentally thanked Naruto for giving her his special tags.

Meanwhile Naruto was busy being dominated by Itachi in a taijutsu battle. Naruto could not get enough room to formulate a plan or to at least create a jutsu. Itachi was onto him like a rash, rapidly kicking him around. Whenever he was sent flying Itachi would appear wherever he was going to land and he would then proceed to kick him somewhere else. Naruto was kicked into a tree trunk and he stayed there, his body in too much pain in order for him to move properly, all the while Itachi was slowly walking towards him.

"Do you see it now; this is the difference in power between us. You have used jutsu after jutsu to try and defeat me, while all I have used is pure taijutsu and a few kunai and shuriken…this is proof enough to show you just how futile it is to take me on. I did not even have to use my Sharingan to defeat you." Itachi said as he continued to walk towards the downed form of Naruto.

Naruto finally started standing up, but before he could finish his ascent he was kicked hard in the chest by Itachi as he made a crack in the tree trunk with his body hitting it hard.

"It's over." Itachi said as he saw that Naruto was barely conscious.

Itachi stuck his hand out, looking to grab Naruto, but a whizzing sound alerted him to Sakura's shuriken that were aimed at his arm, hoping to injure him, but Itachi simply withdrew his arm and let the shuriken sail by aimlessly.

Sakura threw another kunai at Itachi just as she was about to reach him, but the kunai was knocked off course by another kunai. Both Itachi and Sakura turned to the left and saw a shirtless Sasuke with a few minor burns on his abdomen.

"You bitch; I'll make you pay for burning my shirt." Sasuke said with malice laced into his voice.

Sasuke then proceeded to run towards Sakura, hoping to continue their fight, but Sakura started running through some hand seals that Sasuke's Sharingan recorded, before Sakura burst into a million flower petals. Sasuke's Sharingan immediately saw through the genjutsu however, but it did provided Sakura a second that allowed her to throw another of Naruto's special exploding tags attached to a kunai, but just as it was about to his Sasuke Itachi came out of nowhere and caught the kunai, and once it started sizzling Itachi jumped into the air and threw the kunai high into the air, before he substituted with a log at the last second just as a normal kunai from Sakura imbedded itself on the log.

The exploding tag detonated, creating a huge explosion in the sky and also causing the battlefield to have a strong wind current. Sakura covered her eyes and due to the intense wind and light that threatened to hurt her eyes, but that proved to be a mistake on her part as Sasuke came from out of nowhere and proceeded to stab her in the stomach with a kunai.

Blood spurted out of Sakura's mouth as her eyes widened to incredible lengths due to the pain she felt in her gut. She felt her body become weak as she slowly fell on her knees. Blood flowed from the wound in her gut and from her mouth as well.

Sasuke just stood over her, sneering as he looked at her with remorseless eyes. This was what happened to anyone who crossed paths with the Uchiha.

Naruto, who was still fluttering between being conscious and being unconscious saw Sakura fall onto her knees with a kunai lodged into her gut. This seemed to strike him at the very core of his existence. It sparked something he had never felt before. Something he had not felt since the day he had been forced by Jiraiya to kill his pet rabbit…anger.

Itachi, who watched on without a shred of emotion on his face as Sasuke struck the wannabe kunoichi with a kunai to the gut, was surprised when he felt a spike of chakra that suddenly emerged from where Naruto was.

"What?" Itachi said in slight confusion before his eyes widened to extreme portions when Naruto's chakra spiked so much that it blew the tree that he had been leaning against when he fought against falling into a pit of unconsciousness. Itachi jumped away as bits and pieces of the tree flew all over.

Itachi landed on a tree trunk a few metres away from where the explosion occurred, and he was joined by his younger brother, Sasuke.

"What is that, nii-san?" Sasuke asked with fear in his tone. Never in his life had he ever felt something so vile and corrupted. The chakra he felt at this current moment was pure, unrefined evil. It scared Sasuke a lot.

"That is the reason why father calls the boy an A-ranked threat." Itachi said cryptically without looking at his younger brother that was next to him, trembling with fear.

Naruto slowly came into view for both Uchiha to see, and what they saw scared them both, but in different degrees. Naruto's body was enveloped by a red chakra shroud that seemed to waft off him as if he were on fire. Naruto slowly turned his head towards the Uchiha brothers and looked at them, and they were given a good view of Naruto's eyes. They were red in colour, and had black slits in the middle like Naruto was some sort of snake…or worse.

The whisker marks on his face had become elongated, and his fingernails had also become longer, all in all it gave Naruto a beast-like look. Naruto slowly looked at Sakura who looked at him with blurry eyes. She was now on her back thanks to the power behind the explosion of chakra Naruto released blowing her away.

Naruto then looked at Itachi and Sasuke once again, but this time he slid into a fight stance.

Itachi, who had been analysing the blonde, looked on with interest when Naruto slid into a fight stance.

'_All that power that he is giving off and he is still in control? An astounding achievement for one so young.' _

Naruto was about to jump into the air and attack the brothers, but suddenly someone appeared in front of him and before Naruto knew what was going on he had a hand on his forehead, and a split second later the hand moved away from Naruto's forehead just as the chakra shroud Naruto had on him disappeared, and the blonde fell onto the ground, completely unconscious.

Itachi watched on in interest as this strange person subdued the jinchuriki boy with nothing but a touch. But on closer inspection Itachi saw a small paper with a seal on the boy's head, which made him realise the seal was responsible for Naruto's subdued state. He then saw something that made his eyes widen to great proportions as he recognised who this person is.

"You're…Sarutobi Hiruzen."

**END **

**Clan information**

Sarutobi Clan

**Clan ranking:** 4

**Clan Leader:** Sarutobi Asuma

**Strongest Member(s): **Sarutobi Hiruzen

**Strength:** 3.0/5

**Population: **2.5**/5**

**Economy: **4.0**/5 **

**Skills: **Specialise in Katon ninjutsu and Taijutsu.The clan also makes money through the procuring and selling of jutsu. Despite their small population they are one of the world's wealthiest clans.

**Well that's chapter nine, and as I said before I am really bummed out about my story not being as successful as my other two stories are, and yet this story, I feel, is better than them. Tell me what is it that I need to fix here, please. If not I might just stop writing it. **

**I'm out. **


End file.
